Published: October 23,2015
With 200-mph winds and higher gusts, Hurricane Patricia became strongest Western hemisphere hurricane ever recorded by the U.S. National Hurricane Center and the third-strongest in world history, as measured by 1-minute averaged wind speed, according to Weather Underground's director of metrology Dr. Jeff Masters. Based on its strengthening pattern Thursday overnight into Friday, Oct. 23, it is also the fastest-intensifying hurricane recorded.
(FORECAST: Hurricane Patricia | Patricia in Photos)
The 8 a.m. NHC advisory warned of a "potentially catastrophic landfall in southwestern Mexico" later Friday, adding "Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane through landfall." An extremely dangerous storm surge is forecast to accompany the landfall.
Officially, here are the strongest tropical cyclones in world history, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the National Hurricane Center (using 1-minute averaged sustained winds), compiled by Dr. Masters for his blog.
Super Typhoon Nancy (1961)
Track map of Typhoon Nancy of the 1961 Pacific typhoon season. (Wikimedia Commons)Super Typhoon Nancy (1961), 215 mph winds, 882 mb. This storm made landfall as a Category 2 in Japan, where it killed 191 people. "However, it is now recognized (Black 1992) that the maximum sustained winds estimated for typhoons during the 1940s to 1960s were too strong," Dr. Masters warns on his blog of the historical data. "The strongest reliably measured tropical cyclones were both 10 mph weaker than Patricia, with 190 mph winds—the Western Pacific's Super Typhoon Tip of 1979, and the Atlantic's Hurricane Allen of 1980. Both storms had a hurricane hunter aircraft inside of them to measure their top winds."
Dr. Masters noted that Dr. Hugh Willoughby, former head of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, said of data of this time period, "I would not take the winds seriously because reconnaissance meteorologists estimated them visually."
Super Typhoon Violet (1961)
This
map shows the tracks of all tropical cyclones in the 1961 Pacific
typhoon season. The points show the location of each storm at 6-hour
intervals with the color representing the storm's maximum sustained wind
speeds as classified in the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. (Wikimedia
Commons)Super Typhoon Violet (1961), 205 mph winds, 886 mb pressure. Violet made landfall in Japan as a tropical storm, killing 2 people.
Super Typhoon Ida (1958)
Typhoon Ida was photographed by a U-2 about 750 miles off the coast of the Philippines in 1958. (Wikiemdia Commons/OgreBot)Super Typhoon Ida (1958), as known as the Kanogawa Typhoon, had 200 mph winds, 877 mb pressure. It made landfall as a Category 1 in Japan, killing 1,269 people.
Super Typhoon Haiyan (2013)
The center of Typhoon Haiyan just south of Hainan Island, China in the South China Sea. (NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team)Super Typhoon Haiyan (2013), 195 mph winds, 895 mb pressure. Haiyan, also known as Yolanda, made landfall in the Philippines at peak strength where the storm surge had a devastating impact, killing more than 6,300 people.
"Haiyan's winds were estimated using only satellite images, making its intensity estimate of lower confidence," Dr. Masters noted on his blog.
Super Typhoon Kit (1966)
A
track map of the 1966 Pacific typhoon season. The points show the
location of each storm at 6-hour intervals with the color representing
the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. (Wikimedia Commons/Supportstorm)Super Typhoon Kit (1966), 195 mph winds, 880 mb. This storm did not make landfall.
Super Typhoon Sally (1964)
The tracks of all tropical cyclones in the 1966 Pacific typhoon season. (Wikimedia Commons/Supportstorm)Super Typhoon Sally (1964), 195 mph winds, 895 mb. This storm made landfall as a Cat 4 in the Philippines.
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