Hurricane Kristy was the latest in a series of Category 5 storms in recent years in both the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins.

In short Cat. 5: After flirting with that elite status the day before, Kristy strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane over the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday afternoon, October 24, while located nearly 1,000 miles southwest of Los Cabos, Mexico.

There was no Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance mission to measure peak wind speeds in Kristy as the hurricane posed no threat to landfall. So the National Hurricane Center used techniques based on Kristy’s appearance in satellite images to upgrade it to a Cat. 5.

However, I didn’t last long. Six hours later, the NHC estimated that the wind was towards Cat. 4 intensity.

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Which cat. 5 means: Wind is just one of the many impacts of hurricanes. However, hurricanes have historically been rated by their maximum sustained winds using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Category 5 hurricanes have maximum sustained winds of 155 mph or higher, which can cause catastrophic wind damage.

Not the only one this year: Kristy wasn’t the only cat. 5 hurricane this year or this month.

Less than three weeks ago, Hurricane Milton quickly strengthened to a Cat. 5 over the southern Gulf of Mexico on October 7 and then, after eyewall replacement, back to Cat. 5 again the next day.

On July 1, Hurricane Beryl became the first Atlantic Basin Cat. The fifth on record and strongest Atlantic hurricane in July by wind speed after it ravaged the southern Windward Islands.

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Last year also three: The 2023 hurricane season generated three Cat. 5 hurricanes too.

Jova was a Cat for a short time. 5 from September 6 to 7 as it orbited more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) off Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Shortly afterwards, Hurricane Lee caused Cat. 5 jumped as it spun 700 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

We weren’t so lucky with the third Cat. 5.

Hurricane Otis unexpectedly exploded from a tropical storm into Cat. 5 hurricane before making a catastrophic landfall in Acapulco, Mexico on October 5, 2023.

So that’s six Cat. Five hurricanes in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins combined in the past two hurricane seasons.

How often does this happen: As our previous deep dive detailed, there are 42 Atlantic Basin Cat. Five hurricanes documented in the past 100 years since 1924, including Lee, Beryl and Milton from the past two seasons.

According to reliable data since the early 1970s, including 2023 Jova and 2024 Kristy, fourteen hurricanes have made landfall at Cat. 5 intensity in the Eastern Pacific Basin – defined as east of 140 degrees longitude.

That is the average of one such Cat. 5 every 2 to 3 years in the Atlantic basin and every 3 to 4 years in the eastern Pacific basin.

But there have been active and quieter parts.

There are 10 Cat. 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin from 2016 through 2024 and eight Cat. 5s from 2003 through 2007. On the other hand, there was a nine-year gap in the Atlantic between 2007 Felix and 2016 Matthew.

How many Cat. 5 landings: Otis was the only cat. 5 record landings anywhere in the Eastern Pacific Basin. Several other E. Pacific Cat. Five hurricanes, including the strongest Western Hemisphere hurricane ever, 2015’s Patricia, made landfall in Mexico, but not in Cat. 5 intensity.

Of the 42 Atlantic Cat. 5 hurricanes, 19 made a Cat. 5 landfall somewhere in the basin.

Four of these did so in the US mainland: Michael in the Florida Panhandle (2018), Andrew in South Florida (1992), Camille along the Mississippi Gulf Coast (1969) and Hurricane Labor Day 1935 in the Florida Keys.

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula (Janet 1955, Gilbert 1988, and Dean 2007) and the Bahamas (1932, 1933, and Dorian 2019) have each experienced landfalls of three Cat. 5 hurricanes.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at Weather.com and has been covering national and international weather reports since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite subjects. Contact him X (formerly Twitter), Wires, Facebook And Blue sky.