Hurricane Ian: By the Numbers

Here are some of the records and statistics associated with Hurricane Ian:

• The storm is the deadliest hurricane to strike Florida since the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and second-deadliest storm to hit the United States this century behind Hurricane Katrina (2005).
• It tied the Florida Keys Hurricane (1919) and Hurricane Charley (2004) as the 4th most intense hurricane to strike Florida, behind the Labor Day Hurricane (1935), Hurricane Andrew (1992), and Hurricane Michael (2018).
• It underwent a rapid intensification, with the storm's wind speeds increasing by 35 mph in two and a half hours.
• A storm surge of over 12 feet inundated much of the low-lying Southwest Florida coast.
• It was the sixth major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) to strike the Gulf Coast since 2017.
• An unusual amount of lightning was recorded in Hurricane Ian's eye wall. Lightning detection networks recorded more than a thousand lightning events, and hurricane hunters shared videos of the prolific lightning as they flew the storm before it made landfall. The amount was more than Hurricane Michael (2018) and Hurricane Laura (2020).