Hurricane Helene was massive at landfall. Here's how it compares with past storms

Hurricane Helene made landfall around 11:10 p.m. ET Thursday night near Perry, Florida, bringing 140 mph winds as a Category 4 storm and a larger field of hurricane-force and tropical storm winds.

Helene is the first known Category 4 storm to hit the state's Big Bend region since records began in 1851.

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the coastal mid-Atlantic states as a Category 3 storm, killing more than 200 people and spawning tropical-storm-force winds over 1,000 miles. Other hurricanes to have made landfall in the Atlantic and Gulf states since Sandy have varied in size and strength, all of them bringing damaging winds, heavy rainfall and tidal surges. And Helene's footprint compared with past storms is significant.

Updates: Helene tearing through Georgia; 6 dead; 3.5 million without power: Live updates

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How big are hurricanes?

When comparing hurricane patterns released in archived NOAA advisories, the relative scale of the hurricane-force winds and the surrounding tropical-storm-force winds, these storms span hundreds of miles and multiple states. For those caught in the direct path of a hurricane and its devastating effects as it reaches landfall, there's likely little distinction among categories when deadly wind speeds are that high.

Here's a look at how notable hurricanes that have made landfall on the contiguous United States since Sandy have compared in size at the point of landfall:

SOURCE NOAA National Hurricane Center advisory archive