Hurricane Owen

Hurricane Owen  was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide, and was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States in the modern era. The fifteenth named storm, eighth hurricane, as well fourth and final major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, Owen was the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The storm originated in the extreme south-central Caribbean near the coast of Colombia. 12 hours after formation, the new depression intensified into Tropical Storm Owen. The cyclone would track generally westward for a day or so before tracking northwest through the western Caribbean and would make landfall near Guasasa, Cuba as a powerful 140 mph Category 4 hurricane before shortly thereafter weakening further into a Category 3 hurricane as the hurricane traversed Cuba. Following the brief weakening trend, Owen once again rapidly deepened and made landfall near Marathon, Florida as a 145 mph Category 4 hurricane. The storm would continue to strengthen while hugging the western coast of Florida before making a second landfall in Indian Rocks Beach in Pinellas County, Florida as a powerful Category 5 hurricane and make a third landfall near Cedar Key, Florida as a slightly weaker Category 4 hurricane. While making another turn toward the northeast across the East Coast of the United States, Owen would later make a final landfall near Point Pleasant, New Jersey as a Category 1 hurricane.

The storm caused catastrophic, unprecedented destruction from as south as Cuba to as north as New England. Severe property would occur in coastal areas, and the brunt of significant wind damage was along the west coast of Florida in the Tampa Bay area, which had seen a direct hit from Hurricane Chris, a Category 2 hurricane at landfall, 4 years prior. Owen was the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane, and property damage was estimated at around $296 billion USD, surpassing Chris as the costliest hurricane in United States history, which in itself had previously surpassed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Meteorological history
The origins of Hurricane Owen traced back to an elongated low-pressure area that formed in mid-October in the eastern Caribbean that was spawned by a tropical wave. Over the next few days, the low would track westward in the extreme southern Caribbean and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing advisories on Tropical Depression Fifteen on October 20 subsequently following an Air Force Reconnaissance Hurricane Hunter aircraft found a well-defined closed circulation. The depression would organize further, and 12 hours later, Fifteen intensified further into the fifteenth and final named storm of the season, being given the name ''Owen. ''

After attaining tropical storm strength, Owen would track over record warm Caribbean waters and had explosively intensified, strengthening from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane in the unprecedented span of 6 hours. On October 22, Owen intensified further into a Category 5 hurricane and would explosively intensify throughout the day before reaching a record peak of sustained winds of 225 mph winds and a minimum pressure of 852 millibars late in the day into the early hours of October 23. With this attaining of strength, Owen surpassed Chris of 2018 as the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, strongest in the western Hemisphere, and strongest overall worldwide.