Ten years ago today, Katrina moved into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm. By the end of the day, the storm had already strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane.
As history would tell us, Katrina would later go on to become a Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph.
Katrina eventually made landfall in the early morning on August 29 as a strong Category 3.
The storm devastated the Gulf Coast, especially New Orleans.
Since that day, a lot has changed for New Orleans and hurricane forecasting.
The year Katrina hit the United States had a record-breaking hurricane season on multiple fronts.
More storms, hurricanes and large hurricanes formed that year than any other year in recorded history.
Half of the six most intense hurricanes on record formed in 2005.
Most of the storms formed earlier than previous storms in the past, and the season lasted all the way into the next year while most seasons end at the end of November.
Since all those records have been broken, it's been a long, quiet decade where the United States has been lucky enough to avoid anything close to Katrina.
