Ask anyone living between Naples and Sarasota and they’ll give you the date without checking Google. It’s burned in. Hurricane Ian hit in 2022, making landfall on Wednesday, September 28. It wasn't just another storm in a busy decade. It was the one that changed the topography of the barrier islands and the bank accounts of basically every homeowner in the Sunshine State.
Late September. That's when it happened.
While the "what year was Hurricane Ian" question has a simple four-digit answer, the "why" and "how" are much messier. People often confuse it with Hurricane Irma (2017) or Michael (2018) because the trauma of these massive Category 4 and 5 events starts to bleed together after a while. But Ian was different. It stayed. It crawled. It pushed a wall of water into living rooms that had stayed dry for a hundred years.
Why 2022 Changed Everything for Southwest Florida
The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season was actually pretty quiet for a long stretch. We had a weirdly calm August. People were starting to relax, thinking maybe we’d get a pass. Then Ian organized in the Caribbean. By the time it cleared Cuba, it was a monster.
When it hit Cayo Costa, Florida, it was packing sustained winds of 150 mph. That is just two miles per hour shy of a Category 5 designation on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Honestly, the wind wasn't even the worst part for most people. It was the storm surge. We’re talking 12 to 18 feet of water in places like Fort Myers Beach. If you’ve ever walked down Estero Boulevard, you know that 15 feet of water means the entire first floor of every building is gone. Just erased.
The Cone of Uncertainty Confusion
One reason 2022 remains such a point of contention is the forecast track. For days, the National Hurricane Center had the cone centered on Tampa Bay. Residents there were boarding up, while folks in Fort Myers and Naples were watching the news with a sense of "glad it's not us." Then, the wobble.
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Hurricanes don't follow tracks; they follow the atmosphere. A high-pressure system shifted, and Ian hooked east. This late shift is why so many people were caught off guard. It's a massive lesson in emergency management: the cone is not a line. It's a probability. In 2022, the probability landed on the worst-case scenario for Lee County.
Comparing 2022 to Other Major Years
If you're trying to place Ian in a timeline, it helps to look at the "Big Four" of the modern Florida era.
- 2004: The year of Charley. Charley hit almost the exact same spot as Ian, but it was a tiny, tight "midget" storm. It moved fast. It broke windows and peeled roofs but didn't bring the ocean with it.
- 2017: Hurricane Irma. This was the one that sparked the largest evacuation in U.S. history. It was huge in size but weakened significantly before the worst of the wind hit the major metros.
- 2018: Hurricane Michael. A true Category 5 that leveled Mexico Beach in the Panhandle.
- 2022: Hurricane Ian. The costliest storm in Florida history, causing over $112 billion in damage.
The sheer scale of 2022 is hard to wrap your head around. It didn't just hit the coast. It dumped over 20 inches of rain in parts of Central Florida. Places like Orlando and Kissimmee saw catastrophic inland flooding that lasted for weeks after the wind stopped blowing.
The Economic Aftermath: Why We’re Still Talking About It
You can't talk about what year Hurricane Ian was without talking about the insurance crisis it accelerated. Before 2022, Florida’s property insurance market was already on shaky ground. After Ian? It basically collapsed.
Several insurers went insolvent. Others just packed up and left the state. If you live in Florida now, your premiums are likely double or triple what they were in 2021. That’s the "Ian tax." It’s the lingering ghost of the 2022 season. Even if your house didn't lose a single shingle, you’re paying for Ian every single month.
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Real Stories from the Ground
I remember talking to a shop owner on Sanibel Island a few months after the storm. He said the sound wasn't a whistle; it was a low-frequency growl that shook the floorboards. The Sanibel Causeway—the only way on or off the island—was snapped in multiple places. For the first time in modern history, an entire community was truly cut off from the mainland.
The recovery was impressive, though. The state got a temporary bridge up in weeks. But "up" and "normal" are two different things. Even now, years later, you’ll see the empty lots where iconic restaurants used to be. You’ll see the "Ian scars" on the mangroves, which turned gray from the salt spray and are only just now showing green again.
Essential Facts for the Record
If you’re writing a report or settling a bet, here are the hard stats from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
- Date of Landfall: September 28, 2022.
- Location: Cayo Costa, Florida (near Fort Myers).
- Peak Intensity: Category 4 (at landfall), briefly reached Category 5 over the Gulf.
- Fatalities: Over 150 people, making it the deadliest storm in Florida since 1935.
- Cost: $113 billion (estimated).
It's easy to get lost in the numbers. But for those who lived it, 2022 was the year the Gulf of Mexico decided to come inside. It was the year of the "Cajun Navy" coming down to rescue people from rooftops in North Port. It was the year we realized that 100-year flood maps might be a bit optimistic.
Misconceptions About the 2022 Season
A lot of people think Ian was the only storm that year. It wasn't. Hurricane Nicole actually hit the East Coast of Florida just a few weeks later in November. While Nicole was "only" a Category 1, it hit a coast that had already been eroded by Ian’s outer bands. Houses in Wilbur-By-The-Sea literally fell into the ocean because the dunes were gone.
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2022 was a reminder that the tail end of the season—September through November—is often more dangerous than the peak of August. The water is at its warmest. The cold fronts start dipping down, acting like magnets that pull tropical systems right into the coast.
Moving Forward After Ian
So, what do we do with this information? Knowing what year Hurricane Ian was is only useful if it changes how we prepare for the next one.
Immediate Actions for Homeowners:
Check your elevation certificate. Seriously. If Ian taught us anything, it’s that "Zone X" (supposedly low risk) doesn't mean "No Flood." Most of the people who lost everything in 2022 didn't have flood insurance because they were told they didn't need it.
Update Your Kit:
Don't wait for a cone to appear on the news to buy water and batteries. By then, the lines at Publix are a mile long and the plywood is sold out at Home Depot.
Hardening the Structure:
If you’re rebuilding or renovating, look at "impact-rated" everything. In 2022, houses built under the post-Andrew building codes generally stayed standing. The ones that disappeared were the older cottages built in the 50s and 60s. Progress is expensive, but it's cheaper than starting over from a concrete slab.
The year 2022 will forever be a demarcation point in Florida history. There is "Before Ian" and "After Ian." As we move further away from that September afternoon, the memories might fade for the rest of the country, but the landscape and the laws of the state will bear those marks for decades to come.
Take these steps to ensure you're ready for the next cycle:
- Review your insurance policy specifically for "Hurricane Deductibles," which are often much higher than standard deductibles.
- Install a permanent generator hookup if you live inland; power outages in 2022 lasted nearly a month in rural areas.
- Map out an evacuation route that does not rely on major interstates like I-75, which become parking lots during a mass exodus.
- Digitalize all your important documents (deeds, IDs, insurance papers) and keep them in a cloud-based "go-bag."