Why do hurricanes form in october

From to , 33 hurricanes made a Florida landfall in October, dwarfing Louisiana, the state with the second-highest number of October landfalls , with There have been 18 major hurricanes Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale that have made direct hits on the U.

Florida was struck by 11 of those. It becomes more difficult for hurricanes to make landfall farther north in October as the upper-level wind pattern changes and the jet stream slides farther south, but Superstorm Sandy broke many meteorological rules of thumb when it hit the Northeast in The map below shows the 16 hurricanes that have made a U. Nine of those occurred in Florida, and the majority of them affected the southern half of the peninsula.

Since , hurricanes Matthew, Nate and Michael all made a U. The U. Matthew and Michael had the most devastating impacts of the three most recent October hurricanes to strike the U.

Between and , Florida was hit by seven major hurricanes Category 3 or higher and south Florida was hit by five major hurricanes from to Sandy ranks as the second-costliest hurricane to ever hit the U. The other three major hurricanes that have hit the U. Wilma hit the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula before turning towards the northeast. It crossed the southern part of Florida as a Category 3 hurricane with gusts over mph and spawned ten tornadoes. Wilma set the record for lowest central pressure mb, previously mb as well as fastest pressure drop 88 mb in 12 hours, previously 48 mb in 12 hours.

Hilda made landfall in south-central Louisiana with mph winds, and Hazel hit near the North Carolina-South Carolina border with mph winds and caused major wind damage all the way up the Appalachians.

Texas has seen only 2 hurricane hits in October from to Jerry in and an unnamed storm in Now Hourly 10 Day. Live Radar. Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Discover World-Changing Science. Read more from this special report: A Guide to Hurricanes. He replies: "Hurricanes form both in the Atlantic basin, to the east of the continental U.

Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter. Sign Up. In fact, 11 major hurricanes, Category 3 or higher, have made landfall in Florida during the 10th month of the year. Location is everything. Not only is the state prone to Atlantic storms, but the Gulf of Mexico tosses a few our way, too. These cyclones have plenty of time to sit in the warm shallow water of the Gulf and grow before making landfall. The most recent and memorable hurricane to strike Florida in October is Hurricane Michael in The Category 5 monster slammed Mexico Beach with mph winds.

Thirty-one people died directly from the hurricane and 43 more indirectly. Hurricane Matthew in was the lowest latitude forming Category 5 on record for the Atlantic Basin.

Augustine and Jacksonville suffered major damages in terms of flooding.