2022’s Hurricane Ian upgraded to a Category 5
Hurricane Ian has been upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane in post-season analysis.
The National Hurricane Center said, however, that Ian wasn’t a Category 5 when it made landfall in southwest Florida in late September of 2022. Instead it was a strong Category 4 that did catastrophic damage and is blamed for 150 direct and indirect deaths.
Ian caused more than $112 billion in damage, making it the third-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
According to NOAA, Ian made landfall as a Category 4 with 150 mph maximum sustained winds on the afternoon of Sept. 28, 2022. That tied Ian for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the U.S.
However, in post-analysis, which was released on Monday, the hurricane center said Ian actually strengthened, briefly, to a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds in the southeast Gulf of Mexico just hours before hitting Florida and just after it passed over the Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys.
Ian not only devastated parts of Florida but also hit western Cuba as a Category 3 and later South Carolina as a Category 1 storm, according to the hurricane center.
The hurricane center spends the off season analyzing data from the previous season and writing post-storm reports. Ian’s is the latest to be released.
Ian was the strongest of eight hurricanes and 14 named storms of the 2022 season.
The World Meteorological Organization recently retired the name Ian from its Atlantic storm name lists, which is routinely done with storms that are particularly deadly or destructive. The name Fiona from 2022 was also retired.
The name Ian will be replaced with Idris starting with the 2028 season. Fiona will be replaced with Farrah.