James richard cottle wilmington nc hurricane

Tim Armstrong, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, has hurricane ranking down to a science.

While some focus on a hurricane's category, its death toll or monetary damage, Armstrong said all those factors are often associated with its atmospheric pressure.

"It seems the storms that had the lowest pressure have had the largest impacts," Armstrong said.

Using barometric readings taken since the 1870s, Armstrong compiled a list of Wilmington's 20 worst storms, based on atmospheric pressure.

Most hurricanes bring with them around 29 inches of atmospheric pressure, Armstrong said, but about a dozen times in 140 years Wilmington has experienced a hurricane with 28 inches.

"To be in a 28 is extremely unusual here," he said.

"It's pretty rare to have that happen."

While atmospheric pressure doesn't take into account everything that makes a hurricane the "worst," Armstrong said it's a good starting point to