Florida Hurricane Statistics (2024)

The firstpresentation is aset of 11 charts showing hurricanes for each decadethat have made landfall on the coast of Florida. For the Keys the twosignificanthurricanes were the hurricanes of 1906 and 1909. The 1906 was theinaugurationof the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) into building the Key WestExtension.House boat number four docked at Long Key broke loose and washed out tothe reef and broke apart. At first all were thought lost; however, manywere picked up by passing boats and saved. Florida has about 400 milesof Atlantic coastline and 800 miles of Gulf of Mexico coastline. Of thefour hurricanes striking Florida's 1,200 miles of coastline, 50 % werein the Keys. The shape of Florida makes it unique since it can beimpactedtwice by the same hurricane as in 1903, but there were six yearswithouta hurricane.

The thirdhurricane tohaunt the construction was the hurricane of 1910. After the disastrous1906 hurricane, the FEC evacuated many of their workers and builtprotectedharbors for its floating equipment. This decade 29 % of the sevenhurricaneswere in the Keys. The 1919 hurricane was the worst hurricane ofthetwentieth century, but the earlier hurricane of 1846 was its worse.Thisdecade there were four years without a hurricane.

Percentage wise the Keys were muchbetter off than the rest of the state with only one of nine hurricanesmaking landfall in the Keys. Our neighbor to the north, Miami,howeverexperienced its worst hurricane of its recorded history. The Floridabuildingboom was dying but the early September hurricane surely doomed it forMiami.Two thousand housing were destroyed and 113 people confirmed dead.DinnerKey in Biscayne Bay reported a 13.2 foot tidal surge.

In the 1930s there were sixyearswithout a hurricane, but this was the decade that prompted this webpage.There were two hurricanes in 1935, one in the Keys and one just north.The Labor Day Hurricane of September 2 is the main focus and will bediscussedat length later. The second hurricane of 1935, known by some asHurricaneYankee, striking the Fort Lauderdale area struck fear for thoseinthe Florida Keys. Two hurricanes made landfall twice.

The 1940s were hurricane years forthe Keys, a total of 10. Only three years without a hurricane and twoyearsin a row there were two. However, during most of WW II in 1942 and 43therewas not even a tropical storm. In the 40s highway US-1 was improved,andpublic electricity and drinking water were finally a part of then Keysliving. When WW II was over, residential and business growth became apartof life. The war had perfected RADAR and better electroniccommunications.

The 1950sstarted out to be as bad as the 1940s, but was agood decadefor Florida. A total of four and none in the Keys. Seven years withouta single hurricane, and it was the year that names were given. Nohurricanesin the Keys and new residents moved to the Keys. One thing thatattractednew residents and also retained older residents with children was theopeningof Coral High School in 1952. Television antennas began to be seen onhouseroofs. In 1958 names were assigned at becoming a tropical storm.

The 1960s showedwhat life in Hurricane Alley was like. Only the LowerKeys were spared. And for Florida, there were three hurricanes in oneyear- 1964, plus Donna counted as two - striking the Keys and the westcoast.Even worse, Donna was a category 4 hurricane bringing with itsignificantstorm surges throughout the Middle and Upper Keys. Donna signaled thebeginningof stilt houses for lower elevations. Betsy is a kind of hurricane weinthe Keys should be aware of. It was tracking safety northward and wellpast the Keys out in the Atlantic when it did a loop and headedsouthwestto come back to strike the Upper Keys.

As far as totals,the 1970s were the best years of the twentieth century.The winds and storm surges of Hurricane Donna and Betsy were quicklyforgotten.These hurricanes made land very inexpensive and growth became rampantinthe Keys. The cheapest land were the wetlands and it could be dredgedandfilled for housing developments. Huge projects were on the books andthestate stepped in and designated the islands of Monroe County as an Areaof Critical State Concern in 1974. In 1968 the National Flood InsuranceProgram (NFIP) was created as a purely voluntary program In 1773legislationimposed severe economic sanctions on communities that did notparticipate.In 1974 Monroe County joined and mortgage companies made it mandatorytohave flood insurance. FEMA was given regulatory jurisdiction.

If the 70 were good, the 1980s were better. There was one slight scarewhen tropical storm Floyd winds exceeded 74 mph right at the Tortugas,but it never strengthen much. In fact, many believe it dropped totropicalstorm winds part of the time. There were eight years without ahurricane.In fact, the last real hurricane was in 1966 and Inez was not bad -Betsyin 1965 was! Betsy was the Keys last major hurricane being a category 3.

Floridabegan to feel like a hurricane state once again inthe 1990s.First, it was the strong category 4 hurricane Andrew in 1992 causingthelargest dollar amount of damage ever. Fortunately, it passed a littlesouthof metropolitan Miami, but like any category 4 hurricane it wreakedhavoc.Not counting Hurricane Floyd, hurricanes Georges and Irene were thefirstKeys hurricanes since Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
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The previous decade data is good historical or trend data, but hardlyusefulin day to day life. The following have both uses. The officialhurricaneseason runs from June through November; however, most of the hurricanesoccur in September and October as will be seen later. The followingmapswill depict the same hurricanes of the previous maps, but by the monthin which they occurred. The thing the author wishes to point out inJuneis that four of the five hurricanes came up from the south ororiginatedin the western Caribbean.

The directions which the hurricanes approach are generally easterly bythe end of July. However, it is now two months into the six monthhurricaneseason, of which there were 59 hurricanes in these 100 years, and onlyeight or 13.6 percent of the hurricanes have made landfall.

Almost twice as many hurricanes made landfall in August as did theprevioustwo months. They are now all approaching from the south east. Of the 59total, 15 or about 39 percent, have now made landfall at aboutmid-season,one of these being Andrew on August 22, 1992. The ancient mariners poemof "August - look out you must" is indeed good advise.

Therecited "September - Remember" from the Mariners poemis aproposfor this month. Over time the months run together, but September isHurricaneMonth in Florida. In the 30 days of September, eight more hurricanesmadelandfall on the Florida coast than in the past 92 days of June, JulyandAugust. The total hurricanes for the twentieth century is now 38, or 64percent of the 59.

October is to be remembered also. It had two more hurricanes that June,July and August had in total (15) and only five less than September. Byfar the majority of the hurricanes are once again approaching from thesouth and south west, or the western Caribbean. These hurricanes can berelatively near the Keys without the customarily weeks of notice. Ofthe59 hurricanes, 55, or 93 percent of the hurricanes have made landfall.

TheNovember hurricanes for all purposes remained from thewestern Caribbean.The one hurricane from the east was the second hurricane of 1935 whichoriginated in the mid-Atlantic. Without looking back this is a recap bymonth:
June = 5
July = 3
August = 7
September = 23
October = 17
November = 4.
It is difficult togive specificallythe number of hurricanes by category as their strengths do change astheyapproach landfall and the records for the first part of the century arenot as good as needed. The author will give these estimates of thenumberof hurricanes in each category classification with the above disclaimer:
Category 5 = 1
Category 4 = 6
Category 3 = 17
Category 2 = 16
Category 1 = 19
The six Category 4 hurricanes wereAndrew (1992), Donna (1960), 1947 Lake Okeechobee), 1928 (LakeOkeechobee),1926 (Miami) and 1919 (Key West). Any Category 4 or 5 hurricane must begiven total and absolute respect.