Really? It seems hurricanes aren't as strong as typhoons, pressure-wise. I've seen a number of typhoons stronger than this (e.g. in the 880's). I wonder what the difference is...less space in the Atlantic? One would think the Atlantic, having shallower and less water overall, could generate stronger storms with the sea surface temperatures being relatively higher. Maybe the jet stream and/or geography of the surrounding terrain hinders Atlantic storms?
From what I could ascertain online, Hurricane Wilma, in 2005, had the lowest recorded pressure for an Atlantic storm, at
882 mbar.
"On the morning of October 19, 2005, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aircraft measured a pressure of 882 millibars in the center of Hurricane Wilma—the lowest pressure ever measured in an Atlantic hurricane." [
LINK]
Compare that with a recorded pressure of
870 millibars for Typhoon Tip.
"A US Air Weather Service reconnaissance aircraft recorded an onboard measurement of 700 hPa at a height of only 1900 m and a dropsonde measurement of 870 hPa." [
LINK]
By the way, whomever stated that Hurricane Milton was the 4th strongest was close. According to this
Wikipedia page, it is the 5th strongest
Atlantic hurricane, and only 6 (six)
Atlantic hurricanes have dropped below the 900 mbar mark. Note that Hurricane Patricia had a pressure of 872 mbar, but formed in the
Pacific. Contrast this with typhoons, whose <900 mbar pressure storms number in the double digits.
Typhoon Haiyan is considered one of the strongest tropical storms in history, if not the strongest.