1848 Tampa Bay hurricane

The 1848 Tampa Bay hurricane (also known as the Great Gale of 1848) was the strongest known hurricane to impact the Tampa Bay area of the U.S. state of Florida. Along with the 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane and Hurricane Milton in 2024, it is one of only three major hurricanes to make landfall along Central Florida's west coast since Florida became a United States territory in 1821.

The 1848 storm is believed to have formed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall near modern-day Clearwater in Pinellas County on September 24. It generated the highest storm surge ever recorded in Tampa Bay, reshaping parts of the nearby coastline and destroying many of the small settlements in the area at the time. Although precise records are unavailable, the storm's barometric pressure and storm surge are consistent with at least a Category 4 hurricane.^[1][2][3] The storm made its way across the largely uninhabited Florida peninsula over the next two days, and although weakened by the time it emerged in the Atlantic Ocean, it caused substantial damage on the east coast as well. Early Florida pioneer William Whitaker called the storm "the granddaddy of all hurricanes."^[4]