Waves crash against a road in Havana, Cuba on Tuesday. In only three days, Michael intensified from a tropical storm to a category 4 hurricane. (See more photos.)
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The strongest hurricanes in recorded history—see how Michael stacks up
From the Atlantic to the Pacific, these killer storms have packed the most wallop in recorded history. Here's what you need to know.
As strong as Michael was, however, there have been many storms more powerful. Some are infamous for the death and destruction they inflicted. Others are all but anonymous because they never made landfall and blew themselves out harmlessly at sea.
And undoubtedly, powerful hurricanes roamed the oceans long before humans were around to witness them.
The massive storms are called “hurricanes” in the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific, “typhoons” in the western Pacific, and “cyclones” in the Indian. But they’re all tropical cyclones to scientists.
Although extremely potent storms have formed in the Atlantic Ocean, the most powerful tropical cyclones on record have formed in the Pacific.
“The Pacific, being a much bigger ocean, often gives a hurricane or typhoon more room to roam
