Hurricane Michael (2018) — DPS 82/100

Peak Category 5 · Atlantic

82/100

Destructive Power Score

Catastrophic

Hurricane Michael (2018) scored 82/100 on the Destructive Power Score scale — a Catastrophic event.

Saffir-Simpson rated this a Category 5 based on peak wind alone. DPS combines intensity with storm size, surge potential, duration of coastal exposure, and geographic reach for a fuller picture of destructive potential.

Landfall: Alabama / FL Panhandle, North Carolina (2 landfalls).

Peak Winds

161 mph · 140 kt

Min Pressure

919 mb

Peak IKE

321.1 TJ

Basin

Atlantic

DPS Rating

Catastrophic

Explore the full interactive analysis below — wind field, track, score components, and side-by-side comparisons. How DPS works.

Computing Destructive Power Score...

○Fetching storm track data

○Computing wind energy (IKE)

○Calculating DPS, IAS, ERS scores

○Rendering map and charts

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The Saffir-Simpson scale only measures peak wind speed at the center. It ignores the storm's size, which is often the biggest factor in damage. Hurricane Ike (2008) made landfall as "only" a Cat 2, but its enormous wind field caused catastrophic damage across the entire Texas coast.

DPS captures what the Category scale misses: size, surge, duration of coastal exposure, and geographic breadth.

IKE (TJ) — Integrated Kinetic Energy in Terajoules. Total wind energy accounting for both speed and storm size.
mph — Miles per hour (wind speed).
mb / hPa — Millibars, a pressure unit. Lower = stronger storm. Normal sea-level is ~1013 mb.
kt — Knots (1 kt = 1.15 mph). Used for storm movement speed.

Hurricane Michael (2018) — DPS 82/100

One number. Total threat.

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