Hurricane History

Preparing the hurricane record…

1851–2025

Play the record season by season.

Tiles © Esri

Loading The Hurricane Record

Reading 175 years of Atlantic best-track data…

Filtered Record Storm Details
Preparing storm records…

Current map filters · strongest storms first

Page 1
Reached Land
Preparing storm records…
Hurricane Guide

Understand The Map And Storm Categories

This tool lives at hurricane.jbf.com.

Every line on this map is one storm's path. Color shows the category the storm reached. Choose a single storm and switch to the 3D wind profile to see the track rise with the wind speed measured at each point along the way, climbing as the storm strengthens and settling as it weakens.

ShapeWhere Did It Go?

The six-hour positions recorded for the storm, drawn end to end.

ColorWhat Category?

The strongest category the storm reached anywhere along its path.

HeightHow Strong, And When?

In the wind profile, height is the wind at each point. It reads clearly for one storm; with the whole record raised at once the tracks overlap.

Using The Map

A Simple Three-Step Workflow

  1. Choose the years and strength.Use the left panel or start with a guided view.
  2. Play the timeline.Watch the record build season by season, or hold on a single year.
  3. Select a storm.Click any track. The right panel tells that storm's story; the table below the map lists every storm behind the current view.

The Saffir-Simpson Scale

What The Categories Mean

Categories describe sustained wind speed only. They do not describe storm surge, rainfall, or size, which cause most hurricane deaths.

Category Sustained Wind Typical Effects
DepressionUnder 39 mphAn organized system that has not yet reached storm strength.
Tropical Storm39–73 mphThe storm earns a name. Downed limbs and local flooding.
Category 174–95 mphDamage to roofing, siding, gutters, and trees.
Category 296–110 mphMajor roof and siding damage; near-total power loss.
Category 3111–129 mphMajor hurricane. Homes lose roof decking and gables.
Category 4130–156 mphSevere damage; most of the area uninhabitable for weeks.
Category 5157 mph and higherCatastrophic damage; a high share of homes destroyed.

“Major hurricane” is a technical grouping: Category 3 or stronger. A Category 1 storm that stalls over land can still kill more people than a Category 5 that stays at sea.

Reading The Record

Compare Historical Periods Carefully

  • Storms before about 1944 were recorded only when a ship or a coastline encountered them. Many storms that stayed at sea were never counted at all, and their positions can be off by dozens of miles.
  • Aircraft reconnaissance began in 1944 and satellite coverage in the 1960s. The apparent rise in storm counts partly reflects better observation, not only a changing climate.
  • Central pressure is missing for most storms before the 1970s, so the map shows it only when it was recorded.
  • This map deliberately carries no death or damage figures. The only such file available locally attached real death tolls to the wrong storms, so nothing here is built from it. Every number on this map comes from the best-track record itself.
  • Tracks come from the live National Hurricane Center feed, rebuilt every few hours. A season still underway is marked Preliminary. Landfall points are matched to counties in the browser. Federal disaster declarations are the copy shipped with this site, so a new season can have a track before it has a declaration.
About The Data
Record
1851–2025
Storms
Pending
Track Points
Pending
Landfall Points In A County
Pending

Source: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic best-track database and the National Hurricane Center. Counties come from the Red Cross county spine.

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