Sandy is already the largest hurricane to ever hit the U.S. mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. How does it compare with Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, and is considered the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history? And what about Irene, which came ashore on North Carolina on Aug. 27, 2011, and caused record flooding across eastern New York and Vermont after several subsequent landfalls as a tropical storm? Here are some telling numbers. And see the links below for some of the best sites for tracking Sandy yourself.

STATISTICS UPON U.S. LANDFALL

Strength

Katrina: Category 3 (Louisiana)

Irene: Category 1 (North Carolina)

Sandy: Category 1 (New Jersey)

Top Wind Speed

Katrina: 125 mph

Irene: 85 mph

Sandy: 94 mph

Diameter (extent of high winds)

Katrina:  400 miles

Irene: 520 miles

Sandy: 940 miles

Atmospheric Pressure

Katrina: 920 millibars (lower is stronger)

Irene: 951 millibars

Sandy: 940 millibars (lowest ever to make landfall north of North Carolina)

Typical at sea level: 1013 millibars

Storm Surge

Katrina: 14 feet, funneling to 28 feet at New Orleans

Irene: 8 feet

Sandy: 12.5 feet

Maximum Rainfall

Katrina: 15 inches

Irene: 10-15 inches (N.C.); 8 inches (N.Y., Vt.)

Sandy: 13 inches

Maximum Snowfall

Katrina: 0 inches

Irene: 0 inches

Sandy: 34 inches

Deaths

Katrina 1,833

Irene: 56

Sandy: 69 Caribbean, 55 U.S. as of Oct. 31 a.m.

Property Damage

Katrina: $81 billion

Irene: $19 billion

Sandy: $20 billion, estimate

Storm track, in real time, from the National Hurricane Center.

Map of wind speeds, in real time, across the U.S., which draws from the National Digital Forecast Database.

Severe weather alerts, county by county, nationwide.

How hurricanes form (video explainer).

Smart site that tracks and explains extreme weather: WunderBlog by Jeff Masters, part of the Wunderground weather site.

Statistics for this article, originally posted on Oct. 29, 2012, are updated as of Oct. 31, from AccuWeather.com and other sources

19 Comments

1. 1. Anne Jefferson 01:09 PM 10/29/12

   Interesting comparison, but at least one number you're reporting is wrong. Irene produced a maximum of 15.74" of precipitation in NC, with substantial parts of the coastal plain in the state receiving greater than 10". (citation: http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/irene2011.html)
   Please check to make sure all numbers are accurate.

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2. 2. anumakonda 02:29 PM 10/29/12

   Interesting comparison between Sandy versus Katrina, and Irene: Recurrence of these has any connection with Climate Change?
   Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
   E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

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3. 3. Na g n o s t ic 05:57 PM 10/29/12

   <global warming note>
   Another sign of climate change.
   </global warming note>

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4. 4. N49th 07:56 PM 10/29/12

   Good comparison all around. Now, my contribution to the equation. Politics, brown, black, white or red tend to have an opinion.
   The St. Lawrence seaway paid alot of bills but it was not with out cost. Hold your hand up now, north american.

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5. 5. N49th 08:04 PM 10/29/12

   I didn't think so.
   Nigeria for all its smarmiest could see harm.

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6. 6. Kenny J 12:36 AM 10/30/12

   First place, Katrina was not a "Louisiana" storm. The "eye" made landfall in Waveland/Bay St. Louis area. Yes it did hit the mouth of Mississippi River, which is part of Loisiana, but if the levies had not broken in N.O., Katrina would have caused little damage to the New Orleans area. Next, I lived on MS Gulf Coast on beachfront road and water level there was 26 feet above sea level. Some areas where creeks and streams received the "swelling effect" of the "surge" registered over 35 feet. I'm assuming that the 6-11 feet in NY you are referring to is above "sea level" and therefore it should be included in your report what the range of ground level to sea level is. Mississippi Gulf Coast (beach front) ranges from 2 feet to around 20 feet...N.O. is, ok course, below sea level and therefore reason for the levies.
   Regardless of the inaccuracies, hearts and prayers from the people of the South, go out to those affected by Sandy. As we say in the south "hope you ride the storm out well" and death tolls are not high.

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7. 7. mfischetti in reply to Anne Jefferson 01:38 PM 10/30/12

   Thansk for the fix on NC precip; changed it above.

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8. 8. Louis Hooffstetter 02:22 PM 10/30/12

   Correct me if I’m wrong, but neither Irene nor Sandy were hurricanes at landfall. When Irene made landfall, the highest land based wind speed was recorded at Cape Lookout, N.C. (~59 kts or 67 mph). When Sandy made landfall, the highest land based wind speed (that I could find) was recorded at Robbins Reef, N.Y. (~54 kts or 60 mph). By definition, hurricanes have sustained winds of 64 kts or 74 mph, making both Irene and Sandy tropical storms. By contrast:
   
   Hurricane Camile made landfall with wind speeds of ~165 kts or 190 mph (Category 5)
   Hurricane Andrew made landfall with wind speeds of ~143 kts or 165 mph (Category 5)
   Hurricane Hugo made landfall with wind speeds of ~118 kts or 136 mph (Category 4)
   Hurricane Katrina made landfall with wind speeds of ~110 kts or 125 mph. (Category 3)
   
   Please refrain from over-hyping natural disasters to sell magazines. It is unfortunate that a full moon and a flood tide exacerbated flooding and wave damage caused by tropical storm Sandy, but overall, we are extremely lucky to have now gone for seven consecutive seasons without a hurricane making landfall in the continental US.

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9. 9. greenhome123 05:25 PM 10/30/12

   I love living near the ocean, but unfortunately one of the prices to pay for that luxury is having to deal with occasional hurricane and tsunami. Luckily there is good warning time for hurricanes. Also, warning time for tsunami is not too bad either, especially in the United States. I would say the most unpredictable natural disasters are volcanoes and earthquakes.

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10. 10. WentThroughKatrina in reply to Anne Jefferson 11:56 PM 10/30/12

    I can't account for most of the information provided here. But I can assure you that winds for Katrina were significantly higher than 125 mph. The storm surge was over 30 foot and I don't specifically remember the amount of rainfall, but to give you an idea of how minimal 14 inches seems . . . I got twice as much as that during Isaac.

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11. 11. Shlomo 06:01 AM 10/31/12

    How about a stat on the number of lootings and shootngs....Sandy v. Katrina?

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12. 12. AngelOfVoid in reply to Louis Hooffstetter 08:53 PM 10/31/12

    you claim that this person is hyping Irene and Sandy but you seem to be under hyping them, to claim that Irene and Sandy where not hurricane's when they hit is miss-guided.
    
    NC received winds up to 85 MPH and had the low pressure of a cat.3 and even tho it was only a tropical storm by the time it hit NJ there where wind speeds in the 70's. Connecticut, Rhode Island(71mph), and Massachusetts all received high wind's that knocked out the power, and more then half the residents of all 3 states where out of power for days due to the wind. and Sandy's winds where even higher, Westerly RI got 86mph winds and I heard that NH had winds up to 139mph.
    
    obviously the category of the storm doesn't really hold much ground when it comes to pressure, damage, or size for that mater. you may be thinking people are hyping Irene and Sandy but these are some of the largest, lowest pressure storms to hit this high north this late in the season, and they are only separated by a year, of course people are concerned.

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13. 13. cyberbmcd in reply to Louis Hooffstetter 12:16 AM 11/2/12

    Tropical storm Sandy? So you're saying that because ONE HOUR before the eye of a 900 mile wide storm hit the coast of NJ that the hurricane force winds that surrounded MY house for the previous 9 hours are irrelevant? It was a ridiculous downgrade by the NOAA after level 1 hurricane force winds had already ravaged most of Long Island. Just like in Katrina, with Sandy so many people seem to forget that the strongest and most damaging winds in a hurricane are in the northeast quadrant, so with Katrina that was Mississippi NOT Louisiana and with Sandy, it was Long Island NOT NJ. There were suatained winds in Islip of 69 mph with gusts up to 90mph. Those "gusts" didn't just come occasionally every few hours they came every 3-4 minutes. this "Tropical storm" did as much damage to the NY/NJ area that the Cat 5 "hurricane " Katrina did to LA/Miss/Fla.

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14. 14. frank27630 10:06 AM 11/2/12

    Nice comparasons

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15. 15. Pazuzu in reply to AngelOfVoid 01:16 PM 11/15/12

    You're making good points, but this is badly written that any English teacher would stop reading half way through and return it with the comment "don't make me be the first and last person to read your essay." If you respected your readers in the slightest, you would at least proofread.

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16. 16. jafis in reply to Louis Hooffstetter 04:05 AM 11/17/12

    I completely agree with your criticism of SA. It has become as bad as a tabloid rag in it's choice of some articles (and editing rigor) in recent years. This article is an example.

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17. 17. jafis 04:09 AM 11/17/12

    I completely agree with your criticism of SA. It has become as bad as a tabloid rag in it's choice of some articles (and editing rigor) in recent years. This article is an example.

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18. 18. Barry4710 09:50 AM 12/31/12

    Dear Mr. Fischetti,
    
    I realize that you are an editor on the board of scientific American, but that should give the cost and be more careful about your facts that you write in an article. To begin with, Sandy was not a hurricane but instead it was downgraded to a proper goal storm before it made landfall. Thus, it may have been the largest tropical storm to hit the Northeast region of the US, but not a hurricane.
    
    I realize that being from the New York area tropical storm Sandy may have seemed like a hurricane, but how could you possibly compare it with Katrina who was a category three hurricane when it made landfall. It took over a month to get New Orleans dried out where New York was dried out in three days to one week.
    
    It would be interesting to find out where you got your statistics from. Sandy was not a category one hurricane according to NOAA. The wind speeds of 94 mph were recorded while it was still in the Atlantic. How can you have the audacity to compare it with Irene or Katrina? Their speeds were recorded when they made landfall.
    
    Katrina was not the number one hurricane to hit the US. The number one hurricane to hit the US was the great Miami hurricane in 1926. The damaged was then $105 million. Converted to today's dollars the cost would exceed $178 billion, nearly double that of Katrina.
    
    The next time you're going to write an article for scientific American I would suggest that you look it up through the records of the Smithsonian Institute or through NOAA.

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19. 19. Barry4710 10:54 AM 12/31/12

    Dear Mr. Fischetti,
    
    I realize that you are an editor on the board of scientific American, but that should give be more careful about your facts that you write in an article. To begin with, Sandy was not a hurricane but instead, it was downgraded to a proper goal storm before it made landfall. Thus, it may have been the largest tropical storm to hit the Northeast region of the US, but not a hurricane.
    
    I realize that being from the New York area tropical storm Sandy (Wind Speeds of 60 mph) may have seemed like a hurricane, but how could you possibly compare it with Katrina who was a category three hurricane when it made landfall. It took over a month to get New Orleans dried out where New York was dried out in three days to one week. Tropical Storm Sandy had a surge of 6-11 feet. Katrina had a surge of 27-36 feet!
    
    It would be interesting to find out where you got your statistics from. Sandy was not a category one hurricane according to NOAA. The wind speeds of 94 mph were recorded while it was still in the Atlantic. How can you have the audacity to compare it with Irene(Another tropical Storm, wind speed 67 mph) or Katrina(Category 5 while in the Gulf but Category 3 at landfall, 125 mph)? Their speeds were recorded when they made landfall.
    
    Katrina was not the number one hurricane to hit the US. The number one hurricane to hit the US was the great Miami hurricane(Wind speeds of 150 mph) in 1926. The damaged was then $105 million. Converted to today's dollars the cost would exceed $178 billion, nearly double that of Katrina.
    
    The next time you're going to write an article for scientific American I would suggest that you look your facts up through the records of the Smithsonian Institute or through NOAA. Not just how you persieve them.

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