Hurricane Michael Gets an Upgrade to Rare Category 5 Status

This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Michael, center, in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 9, 2018. Weather forecasters have posthumously upgraded last fall's Hurricane Michael from a Category 4 storm to a Category 5. NOAA via AP

MIAMI—Hurricane Michael, which devastated a swath of the Florida Panhandle last fall, was actually stronger than initially measured, prompting forecasters to upgrade it from a Category 4 storm to a Category 5 storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on April 19.

The upgraded status means Michael was the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States as a Category 5 since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and only the fourth on record.