On This Day: The Powerful May Hurricane That Hit Florida Was Far From Forgotten

Once upon a time during the Civil War era, a hurricane hit Florida before the official start of the hurricane season. This event remained largely unknown until a research study in the 2000s shed new light on this unusual occurrence.

On May 28, 1863, 162 years ago today, a Category 2 hurricane slammed ashore near Apalachicola, Florida.

This marks the earliest recorded May hurricane landfall in the U.S. This occurred nearly fourteen days before Hurricane Alma, which hit the Florida Panhandle on June 9, 1966, making it previously the earliest documented U.S. hurricane landfall.

Seventy-two people lost their lives in Florida due to the hurricane, and an additional 38 individuals perished at sea on board the ship Soler just prior to making landfall.

A 2013 study Michael Chenoweth and C.J. Mock resurrected this long-lost Civil War–era U.S. hurricane by examining ship logs, particularly those of the Union Navy that was blockading the Gulf Coast, along with local newspapers and additional meteorological documents. Their research revealed that a tropical storm originated on May 25, evolved into a hurricane starting on May 27, and made landfall shortly after sunrise on May 28.

The hurricane was named "Amanda" after a Union ship driven ashore. According to the study, acting Volunteer Lieutenant George Welch claimed to see Confederate troops and, thus, ordered the ship to be abandoned. But a court the following month failed to turn up evidence of Confederate troops.

This serves as a reminder that significant tropical storms and hurricanes can occur even at this point in the year. Exactly thirteen years ago, Tropical Storm Beryl almost intensified into a hurricane when it made landfall near Jacksonville Beach shortly after midnight.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky , X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook .