What were the strongest and weakest hurricanes?
In terms of central pressure (and probably winds), the strongest observed hurricane in the Atlantic basin was Gilbert in 1988 with a pressure of 888 millibars in the northwest Caribbean. The 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys, with a pressure of 892 millibars, was the most intense hurricane to strike the United States. Numerous hurricanes have reached only the minimum wind speed near 74 miles per hour and several have struck the United States. • How many hurricanes have there been in each month? Table 8, adapted from Neumann et al. (1999), shows the total and average number of tropical cyclones, and those which became hurricanes, by month, for the period 1944-2000. It also shows the monthly total and average number of hurricanes to strike the United States since 1900 (updated from Hebert et al., 1997). • What was the largest number of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean at the same time? According to information on the current version of the master data file of Neumann et al. (1
