Ivan's Analysis of Hurricane Gamma (2020)

Official analysis: 70/980

My Analysis: 75/979

Okay. Gamma was quite obviously a hurricane for a few reasons. The first is THE PRESSURE! A tropical storm with a 980 millibars central pressure? Sounds unlikely to me. I mean, in 2016, category three Hurricane Matthew briefly had a pressure of 987 millibars, while 40 mph stronger than Gamma.

As well as that, Gamma's satellite appearance was very good prior to its Yucatan landfall, which led to the Dvorak system classing it at T5.9, equivalent to category three intensity. Though Gamma was not this strong, it shows that its intensity was underestimated.

Finally, Gamma had been strengthening fairly rapidly in the 12 hours before its landfall, and it's unlikely that it would've stopped doing so just before said landfall. Recon was not there to confirm hurricane intensity, which is why the NHC did not upgrade it to such a strength.

However, the evidence presented makes a clear-cut case for that strength, and an upgrade is possible in post-analysis.