About 2 a.m. Central Daylight Time , on September 16 , Hurricane Ivan made landfall in Gulf Shores , Alabama , while winds were at 120 mph . Around 2 a.m. CDT September 16 ( 0700 UTC ) , Ivan made landfall on the U.S. mainland in Gulf Shores , Alabama as a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph ( 190 km\/h ) winds ; some hurricane information sources put the winds from Hurricane Ivan near 130 mph ( 210 km\/h ) upon landfall in Alabama and northwestern Florida .