 The 1945 Homestead hurricane was the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the U.S. state of Florida since 1935 . The ninth tropical storm , third hurricane , and third major hurricane of the season , it developed east @-@ northeast of the Leeward Islands on September 12 . Moving briskly west @-@ northwestward , the storm became a major hurricane on September 13 . The next day , it turned north @-@ northwestward and began to weaken , due to increasing wind shear . On September 15 , the hurricane made landfall on the Florida Keys as a Category 3 hurricane , and subsequently weakened to a tropical storm before diss