Category 5 hurricanes are rare in the U.S. There have only been 4 in its history

The remnants of Hurricane Camille (1969), which made landfall on the Gulf Coast as a Category 5 storm and still packed a powerful punch by the time it reached Richmond, Va., where this photo was taken. (Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Ian has come ashore on Florida's Gulf Coast with winds of 155 miles per hour, placing it just shy of a Category 5 storm — a ranking shared by only four hurricanes of that strength known to have made landfall in the continental U.S.

Those Category 5 storms, with maximum sustained winds of 157 miles per hour or more as measured by the Saffir-Simpson scale, all hit the U.S. on the Gulf Coast — three in Florida and one in Mississippi.