The Tampa Bay hurricane of 1921 (also known as the 1921 Tarpon Springs hurricane) was the most recent major hurricane to strike the Tampa Bay Area and the second latest major hurricane to strike the continental United States in the calendar year on record, behind Hurricane Zeta in 2020. The eleventh tropical cyclone, sixth tropical storm, and fifth hurricane of the season, the storm developed from a trough in the southwestern Caribbean Sea on October 20. Initially a tropical storm, the system moved northwestward and intensified into a hurricane on October 22 and a major hurricane by October 23. Later that day, the hurricane peaked as a Category 4 on the modern day Saffir–Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h). After entering the Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane gradu