Hurricane Tracker
Storms active now, and the most famous ever, over live sea temperature.
The white streaks show the flow itself: the brighter and longer a streak, the faster it moves.
Storms
Live storms come from NOAA's National Hurricane Center and IBTrACS. Famous storms are best tracks from NOAA NCEI.
Hurricanes feed on water warmer than about 26.5 °C: the yellow, orange and red of the sea-temperature colours. That map is today's sea, not the sea on the storm's date.
Checking for active storms…
Source: —
Keys: p pause, g grid, shift-H HD.
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Real pictures from NOAA's GOES satellites (every 10 minutes over the Americas) and NASA's daily passes elsewhere. Move the globe and the picture follows.
On a phone, close this panel, then tap the globe for its forecast.
Satellite pictures of the last 7 days.
Forecast
Tap the globe for a 9-day forecast.
MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · NOAA · NASA GIBS
The moving dashes and arrows show which way the water flows. Tap a current, on the globe or in the list, to highlight it.
WarmColdMixed
Atlantic
Pacific
Indian
Southern
Arctic
The Equator divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Prime Meridian and the 180° line divide it into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich in London, where longitude and clock time are measured from. Half a world away the International Date Line marks where the date changes; it zig-zags off 180° to keep Russia, the Aleutians, Kiribati and Samoa each on one date.
Show me
Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones on a live globe
A hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone are the same kind of storm: a tropical cyclone, a heat engine that runs on warm sea water. The globe above shows every one active today, with the National Hurricane Center's forecast track and cone where there is one, and lets you replay the most famous storms on record along their real tracks, with NASA's satellite picture of the storm draped over the globe.
How to use the tracker
- Press Storms in the bottom-right corner of the globe. Live now lists the storms active today; Famous storms lists the historic ones below.
- Pick a storm. The globe turns to it and the bar under the panel becomes its timeline: drag it, or press ▶ to watch the storm move, grow and weaken. The colours along the track are its Saffir-Simpson category.
- The yellow, orange and red rings show how far its 34, 50 and 64-knot winds reached in each quarter (recorded since the early 2000s).
- Satellite picture drapes NASA's image of the storm on that day over the globe (from 2000 on). Underneath switches the colours under it between sea temperature, currents and wind.
- Drag to turn the globe (two fingers on a phone), and use the full-screen button for the best view.
How a hurricane forms
1.Warm water
The sea must be at least about 26.5 °C (80 °F) down to around 50 m. Warm, moist air rising off it is the fuel: as its water vapour condenses into cloud, it releases heat that drives the storm.
2.A spin to start from
Storms need the Coriolis effect, the turning of the Earth, to start spinning. It is zero at the Equator, so cyclones almost never form within about 5° of it. North of the Equator they spin anticlockwise; south of it, clockwise.
3.Moist air and calm winds aloft
Dry air and strong winds that change with height (wind shear) tear a young storm apart. With calm, moist air above it, the thunderstorms can stack up straight and organise around a centre.
4.The engine runs
Air spirals in at the surface, rises in the ring of towering clouds around the eye (the eyewall), and flows out at the top. Pressure at the centre falls and the winds speed up, as long as the ocean below stays warm.
5.Landfall or cold water
Over land or cooler water the fuel runs out and the storm weakens, but its rain can flood far inland, and the storm surge it pushes onto the coast is usually its deadliest effect.
The Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale
Hurricanes are rated 1 to 5 by their strongest 1-minute sustained wind. The scale measures wind only: a weak but huge or slow storm can still bring a deadly storm surge or flooding rain. The colours are the ones used on the globe.
| Category | Wind | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical depression | < 63 km/h < 39 mph · < 34 kt | A closed circulation of showers and storms. Heavy rain is the main danger. |
| Tropical storm | 63–118 km/h 39–73 mph · 34–63 kt | It gets a name. Fallen branches, flooding rain and rough seas. |
| Category 1 | 119–153 km/h 74–95 mph · 64–82 kt | Very dangerous winds: damage to roofs, gutters and siding; power cuts for days. |
| Category 2 | 154–177 km/h 96–110 mph · 83–95 kt | Extensive damage: shallow-rooted trees uprooted, near-total power loss for days to weeks. |
| Category 3 | 178–208 km/h 111–129 mph · 96–112 kt | Devastating: a "major hurricane". Well-built homes lose roofs; water and power out for weeks. |
| Category 4 | 209–251 km/h 130–156 mph · 113–136 kt | Catastrophic: most trees snapped, walls fail, areas uninhabitable for weeks or months. |
| Category 5 | ≥ 252 km/h ≥ 157 mph · ≥ 137 kt | Catastrophic: a high share of homes destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. |
The storms that hold the US landfall records
Category and pressure at landfall come from instruments and are firm. Death tolls before about 1950 are estimates: in Galveston the records were destroyed along with the city. Damage is in the dollars of the year it happened, not adjusted for inflation or for how much more is now built on the coast. The scale also misses what kills most people: storm surge accounts for about half of all US hurricane deaths, which is why Katrina, a Category 3 at landfall, was far deadlier than stronger storms.
| Storm | Landfall | Category | Pressure | Deaths | Damage (then-year) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galveston hurricaneThe deadliest natural disaster in US history | 8 Sep 1900, Texas | 4 | 936 hPa | 8,000–12,000 | $30 million |
| Okeechobee hurricaneLake Okeechobee burst its banks | 16 Sep 1928, Florida | 4 | 929 hPa | 2,500–3,000 | $25 million |
| Labor Day hurricaneThe most intense US landfall on record | 2 Sep 1935, Florida Keys | 5 | 892 hPa | 408 | $6 million |
| New England hurricane | 21 Sep 1938, Long Island | 3 | 941 hPa | 600–682 | $306 million |
| Audrey | 27 Jun 1957, Louisiana | 4 | 946 hPa | 416+ | $150 million |
| Camille | 17 Aug 1969, Mississippi | 5 | 900 hPa | 256–259 | $1.42 billion |
| Andrew | 24 Aug 1992, Florida | 5 | 922 hPa | 65 | $27 billion |
| KatrinaLong quoted as 1,833; the NHC now gives about 1,392 | 29 Aug 2005, Louisiana | 3 | 920 hPa | About 1,400 | $125 billion |
| Michael | 10 Oct 2018, Florida | 5 | 919 hPa | 59 | $25 billion |
The most famous hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones
Peak winds, pressures and dates are from each storm's official best track in IBTrACS, using the U.S. agencies' 1-minute winds so that storms from every ocean compare fairly. Other agencies use 10-minute winds, which read lower.
Hurricane Katrina 2005
Category 5Louisiana and Mississippi, August 2005: the levees of New Orleans fail.
- Peak wind
- 278 km/h (175 mph, 150 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 902 hPa
- Dates
- 23 August 2005 – 31 August 2005
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 20
- Deaths
- About 1,400
- Damage
- About US$125 billion (2005)
Katrina crossed South Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, then grew to Category 5 over the very warm Gulf of Mexico. It weakened before it came ashore in southeast Louisiana and on the Mississippi coast on 29 August as a large Category 3 storm, but its size pushed a huge storm surge onto the coast. In New Orleans the levees and floodwalls failed and about 80 % of the city flooded.
- One of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
- Storm surge of about 8.5 m (28 ft) on the Mississippi coast, the highest measured in the United States.
- Changed how the U.S. builds flood defences and plans evacuations.
The ocean behind it. The storm strengthened fastest over the Loop Current and its warm eddy, a deep pool of warm water that kept feeding it even as its winds churned the sea.
Follow Hurricane Katrina on the globe
Hurricane Andrew 1992
Category 5South Florida, August 1992: a compact Category 5 flattens Homestead.
- Peak wind
- 278 km/h (175 mph, 150 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 922 hPa
- Dates
- 16 August 1992 – 28 August 1992
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 28.4
- Deaths
- 65
- Damage
- About US$27 billion (1992)
Andrew was a small, fast storm that struck the Bahamas and then Homestead, south of Miami, on 24 August as a Category 5 hurricane. It destroyed or damaged well over 100,000 homes in Miami-Dade County. It crossed the Gulf of Mexico and hit Louisiana as a Category 3.
- One of only four hurricanes known to have hit the United States at Category 5.
- Upgraded from Category 4 to Category 5 in a 2002 reanalysis.
- Led to Florida's much stricter building codes.
Typhoon Tip 1979
Category 5West Pacific, October 1979: the biggest and most intense tropical cyclone ever measured.
- Peak wind
- 306 km/h (190 mph, 165 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 870 hPa
- Dates
- 4 October 1979 – 19 October 1979
- Ocean
- West Pacific
- ACE
- 56.6
Tip formed near Pohnpei and grew over the open west Pacific. On 12 October aircraft measured a central pressure of 870 hPa, the lowest ever recorded at sea level on Earth. Its gale-force winds reached about 1,100 km from the centre, a storm almost half the width of the contiguous United States. It weakened before it struck Japan.
- Lowest sea-level pressure ever recorded: 870 hPa.
- Largest tropical cyclone on record, about 2,220 km across.
- Measured by U.S. reconnaissance aircraft, which stopped flying into west Pacific typhoons in 1987.
The ocean behind it. It spent days over the West Pacific Warm Pool, the largest body of very warm surface water on the planet.
Follow Typhoon Tip on the globe
Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) 2013
Category 5Central Philippines, November 2013: one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall.
- Peak wind
- 315 km/h (195 mph, 170 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 895 hPa
- Dates
- 2 November 2013 – 11 November 2013
- Ocean
- West Pacific
- ACE
- 38.2
- Deaths
- More than 6,300
Haiyan struck Guiuan in Eastern Samar on 8 November at the peak of its strength, with one-minute winds estimated near 315 km/h (195 mph). Its storm surge swept through Tacloban and the coasts of Leyte Gulf.
- Among the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall on record.
- One of the deadliest typhoons in Philippine history.
- Its name, Yolanda in the Philippines, was retired.
The ocean behind it. Ocean heat ran unusually deep in its path, so the storm could not churn up cooler water to weaken itself.
Follow Typhoon Haiyan on the globe
Hurricane Patricia 2015
Category 5Mexico, October 2015: the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone.
- Peak wind
- 343 km/h (215 mph, 185 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 872 hPa
- Dates
- 20 October 2015 – 24 October 2015
- Ocean
- East Pacific
- ACE
- 17.3
Patricia exploded from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in about a day off Mexico's Pacific coast. Hurricane Hunter aircraft measured winds of 345 km/h (215 mph). It weakened quickly before landfall in a thinly populated part of Jalisco, which kept the losses far lower than feared.
- Highest sustained wind ever reliably measured in a tropical cyclone: 185 knots.
- Lowest pressure in the Western Hemisphere: 872 hPa.
- One of the fastest intensifications on record.
The ocean behind it. Strong El Niño warming in 2015 left the sea off Mexico far warmer than usual.
Follow Hurricane Patricia on the globe
Hurricane Wilma 2005
Category 5Caribbean and Florida, October 2005: the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record.
- Peak wind
- 296 km/h (185 mph, 160 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 882 hPa
- Dates
- 15 October 2005 – 26 October 2005
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 38.9
Wilma deepened from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in about a day in the western Caribbean, reaching 882 hPa on 19 October. Its eye shrank to only a few kilometres across. It struck Cozumel and the Yucatán Peninsula, stalled there, then crossed southern Florida.
- Lowest pressure ever measured in an Atlantic hurricane: 882 hPa.
- One of the fastest intensifications on record.
- The 2005 season used up its list of names; Wilma was the last.
Hurricane Irma 2017
Category 5Caribbean and Florida, September 2017: 185 mph winds for 37 hours.
- Peak wind
- 287 km/h (180 mph, 155 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 914 hPa
- Dates
- 30 August 2017 – 13 September 2017
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 64.9
Irma struck Barbuda, St Martin, the British Virgin Islands and the north coast of Cuba as a Category 5 hurricane, then crossed the Florida Keys as a Category 4 and moved up the length of Florida.
- Kept 295 km/h (185 mph) winds for 37 hours, the longest on record for any tropical cyclone.
- One of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes outside the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
The ocean behind it. It crossed water above 29 °C for most of its life, part of a very warm Atlantic that also fed Harvey, Jose and Maria.
Follow Hurricane Irma on the globe
Hurricane Maria 2017
Category 5Dominica and Puerto Rico, September 2017: a whole island in the dark.
- Peak wind
- 278 km/h (175 mph, 150 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 908 hPa
- Dates
- 16 September 2017 – 2 October 2017
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 44.8
- Deaths
- About 3,000 (estimated)
- Damage
- About US$90 billion
Maria intensified very fast and hit Dominica as a Category 5 hurricane on 18 September. Two days later it struck Puerto Rico as a high-end Category 4, destroying its power grid. Parts of the island were without power for months.
- The worst natural disaster on record in Dominica and Puerto Rico.
- The longest blackout in U.S. history.
Hurricane Dorian 2019
Category 5The Bahamas, September 2019: a Category 5 that stopped moving.
- Peak wind
- 296 km/h (185 mph, 160 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 910 hPa
- Dates
- 24 August 2019 – 9 September 2019
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 48.5
Dorian hit the Abaco Islands on 1 September with winds of 295 km/h (185 mph), tied for the strongest Atlantic landfall on record. It then crawled over Grand Bahama, almost stationary for more than a day, battering the same places with extreme wind and surge.
- Tied for the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane on record.
- The worst natural disaster in Bahamian history.
Hurricane Milton 2024
Category 5Gulf of Mexico, October 2024: one of the fastest-strengthening storms ever seen.
- Peak wind
- 287 km/h (180 mph, 155 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 895 hPa
- Dates
- 4 October 2024 – 11 October 2024
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 22.6
Milton went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in about a day and a half over the southern Gulf of Mexico, with one of the lowest pressures ever recorded in the Gulf. It weakened before it came ashore near Siesta Key, Florida, on 9 October as a Category 3, and spawned a large outbreak of tornadoes across the state.
- Among the fastest intensifications on record in the Atlantic.
- The most intense Gulf of Mexico hurricane since Rita in 2005.
The ocean behind it. The Gulf was at record warmth, close to 31 °C, in early October 2024.
Follow Hurricane Milton on the globe
Hurricane Helene 2024
Category 4Florida to the Appalachians, September 2024: a hurricane that drowned the mountains.
- Peak wind
- 222 km/h (140 mph, 120 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 939 hPa
- Dates
- 23 September 2024 – 28 September 2024
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 7
Helene came ashore in Florida's Big Bend on 26 September as a Category 4 hurricane, with a very large wind field. It raced inland and dumped extreme rain on the southern Appalachians, already soaked by earlier storms. Western North Carolina, far from any coast, saw its worst floods on record.
- The deadliest hurricane on the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.
- Showed that a hurricane can do its worst damage hundreds of kilometres inland.
Hurricane Otis 2023
Category 5Acapulco, October 2023: from tropical storm to Category 5 overnight.
- Peak wind
- 269 km/h (165 mph, 145 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 922 hPa
- Dates
- 21 October 2023 – 25 October 2023
- Ocean
- East Pacific
- ACE
- 7.4
Otis was forecast to reach Mexico's Pacific coast as a tropical storm. Instead it strengthened by about 175 km/h (110 mph) in 24 hours and struck Acapulco on 25 October as a Category 5 hurricane, with little warning.
- The strongest landfall on record on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
- Among the fastest intensifications ever observed, and a famous forecast miss.
Hurricane Beryl 2024
Category 5Caribbean and Texas, July 2024: a Category 5 far too early in the season.
- Peak wind
- 269 km/h (165 mph, 145 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 932 hPa
- Dates
- 28 June 2024 – 11 July 2024
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 34.5
Beryl formed in late June far out in the tropical Atlantic, a place where strong storms are rare so early. It hit Carriacou in Grenada as a Category 4, reached Category 5 in the Caribbean on 2 July, and later made landfall in Texas, cutting power to millions around Houston.
- The earliest Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic.
The ocean behind it. The tropical Atlantic was at record warmth for the time of year, about as warm as it usually is in September.
Follow Hurricane Beryl on the globe
Hurricane Ian 2022
Category 5Southwest Florida, September 2022: a catastrophic storm surge.
- Peak wind
- 259 km/h (160 mph, 140 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 937 hPa
- Dates
- 22 September 2022 – 1 October 2022
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 17.5
Ian crossed western Cuba, knocking out the island's power grid, and came ashore on Cayo Costa in southwest Florida on 28 September as a Category 4. Its slow, onshore winds pushed a storm surge of several metres into Fort Myers Beach and nearby islands.
- One of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history.
- The deadliest hurricane in Florida since 1935.
Hurricane Sandy 2012
Category 3Caribbean to New York, October 2012: the giant "Superstorm".
- Peak wind
- 185 km/h (115 mph, 100 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 940 hPa
- Dates
- 21 October 2012 – 31 October 2012
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 13.7
Sandy hit Jamaica and Cuba as a hurricane, then turned north and merged with a winter storm. When it came ashore in New Jersey on 29 October it was no longer a pure tropical cyclone, but its winds covered an enormous area and its surge flooded lower Manhattan, the subway and the Jersey Shore.
- The largest Atlantic hurricane on record by the width of its gale-force winds.
- Its unusual left turn into the coast was pushed by a block of high pressure over Greenland.
Hurricane Mitch 1998
Category 5Honduras and Nicaragua, October 1998: the rain that buried villages.
- Peak wind
- 287 km/h (180 mph, 155 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 905 hPa
- Dates
- 22 October 1998 – 9 November 1998
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 35.4
- Deaths
- More than 11,000
Mitch reached Category 5 in the western Caribbean, then weakened and drifted slowly over Honduras and Nicaragua. Days of torrential rain on the mountains caused floods and mudslides that buried whole communities.
- The deadliest Atlantic hurricane in more than 200 years.
- Set back the economies of Honduras and Nicaragua by decades.
Hurricane Camille 1969
Category 5Mississippi, August 1969: a Category 5 landfall before satellites could measure it.
- Peak wind
- 278 km/h (175 mph, 150 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 900 hPa
- Dates
- 14 August 1969 – 22 August 1969
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 23.2
- Deaths
- About 260
Camille struck the Mississippi coast on the night of 17 August with winds that destroyed the measuring instruments. Its storm surge reached about 7 m (24 ft). Its remnants then caused flash floods in the mountains of Virginia.
- One of only four hurricanes known to have hit the United States at Category 5.
- Its surge record on the Mississippi coast stood until Katrina in 2005.
Cyclone Winston 2016
Category 5Fiji, February 2016: the strongest storm on record in the Southern Hemisphere.
- Peak wind
- 287 km/h (180 mph, 155 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 907 hPa
- Dates
- 9 February 2016 – 28 February 2016
- Ocean
- South Pacific
- ACE
- 48.3
- Deaths
- 44
Winston looped east, then west across the South Pacific before striking Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, on 20 February at its peak. Fiji's weather service measured a central pressure of 884 hPa; whole villages on the islands in its path were flattened.
- The most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere.
- The worst natural disaster in the history of Fiji.
The ocean behind it. Southern-hemisphere storms spin clockwise. Watch the arms of its symbol on the globe turn the other way from the northern storms.
Follow Cyclone Winston on the globe
Hurricane Melissa 2025
Category 5Jamaica, October 2025: the strongest storm ever to strike the island.
- Peak wind
- 306 km/h (190 mph, 165 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 892 hPa
- Dates
- 21 October 2025 – 1 November 2025
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 34.3
Melissa stalled south of Jamaica over very warm water, strengthening to Category 5, then came ashore in the southwest of the island on 28 October at full strength. It went on to strike eastern Cuba.
- The strongest hurricane on record to hit Jamaica.
- Tied for the strongest landfall of any Atlantic hurricane on record.
The ocean behind it. Its slow crawl over the deep warm water of the central Caribbean let it keep strengthening instead of churning up cooler water.
Follow Hurricane Melissa on the globe
Hurricane Erin 2025
Category 5Atlantic, August 2025: Category 1 to Category 5 in about a day.
- Peak wind
- 259 km/h (160 mph, 140 kt)
- Lowest pressure
- 913 hPa
- Dates
- 11 August 2025 – 27 August 2025
- Ocean
- Atlantic
- ACE
- 31.6
Erin strengthened from Category 1 to Category 5 in roughly 24 hours north of the Leeward Islands. It stayed out at sea, but grew very large and sent dangerous waves and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast, flooding parts of the Outer Banks.
- One of the fastest intensifications on record in the Atlantic.
Reading the Hurricane Record
A storm’s category says how hard its wind blows, and nothing else. The deadliest hurricanes are often not the strongest, and the long-term record is shaped by who was watching as much as by the weather.
Why Galveston lost so many
On 8 September 1900 a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, and killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people, the deadliest natural disaster in American history. The range is wide because the records were destroyed with the city. The island’s highest point was about 2.7 m above the sea, and the storm surge was about 4.5 m. There was no seawall. The US Weather Bureau had also stopped its Cuban offices from cabling hurricane warnings, dismissing Cuban forecasters who had tracked the storm correctly.
Afterwards Galveston built a seawall and raised the whole city behind it by up to 5 m, one of the great engineering projects of its day. But Galveston had been Texas’s largest port, and after the storm the money went inland to Houston, which dug a ship channel some 80 km to the sea. One hurricane changed the economic map of Texas.
What the category does not tell you
The Saffir–Simpson scale measures sustained wind only. It says nothing about storm surge, rainfall or the size of the storm, and those are what usually kill. Katrina was a Category 3 at landfall in 2005 and remains the costliest storm in US history, because its surge broke the levees of New Orleans. Harvey in 2017 did most of its damage with rain, up to 1.5 m in places over four days. Storm surge causes about half of all deaths in US hurricanes, which is why the National Hurricane Center now issues separate surge warnings.
Katrina’s death toll is still often given as 1,833. The National Hurricane Center’s revised figure is about 1,392, counting direct and indirect deaths.
The record has a blind spot
Before aircraft began flying into hurricanes in 1944, and before weather satellites in the 1960s, storms that stayed out at sea often went unrecorded. Counts of Atlantic storms per year rise through the 20th century partly because more of them were being seen. Landfalls are the most reliable long series, because a storm that hit an inhabited coast was always noticed, and rising damage figures mostly reflect how much more is now built on the coast.
World records
A hurricane is a heat engine that runs on warm sea water, at least 26.5 °C through the top 50 m or so, and it cannot form within about 5 degrees of the equator, where the Earth’s spin is too weak to set it turning.
| Record | Storm | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest pressure ever measured | Typhoon Tip, 12 October 1979 | 870 hPa |
| Largest storm | Typhoon Tip, 1979 | About 2,220 km across its gales |
| Highest measured gust | Cyclone Olivia, Barrow Island, Australia, 1996 | 408 km/h |
| Most intense US landfall | The Labor Day hurricane, Florida Keys, 1935 | 892 hPa |
Checked against: National Hurricane Center, The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones and the Katrina tropical cyclone report; HURDAT2; K. Emanuel, Divine Wind; World Meteorological Organization weather extremes archive.
Questions about hurricanes and this tracker
What is the difference between a hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone?
They are the same kind of storm: a tropical cyclone. It is called a hurricane in the Atlantic and the eastern and central Pacific, a typhoon in the western North Pacific, and a cyclone in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
Where does the live hurricane data come from?
For the Atlantic and the eastern and central Pacific, the latest National Hurricane Center advisory: each storm's position, its past track, and its forecast track and cone. For other oceans, the IBTrACS active-storm file from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, which carries the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's track and is updated about twice a week, so it can be a few days behind.
What is the cone of uncertainty?
The white cone around a forecast track shows where the storm's centre is likely to go: historically, the centre stays inside it about two-thirds of the time. It says nothing about the storm's size. Strong winds, rain and surge often reach far outside the cone.
What do the coloured rings around a storm show?
How far its winds reach in each quarter (north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west): yellow for tropical-storm-force winds (34 knots, 63 km/h), orange for 50 knots and red for hurricane-force winds (64 knots, 119 km/h). Forecasters have measured these radii routinely only since the early 2000s, so older storms show the track alone.
What is rapid intensification?
A jump of at least 30 knots (55 km/h) in a storm's maximum winds within 24 hours. Storms such as Patricia, Wilma, Otis and Milton strengthened far faster than that, usually over very warm, deep water with little wind shear.
Why are the satellite pictures only shown for some storms?
The pictures are NASA's daily satellite images, which go back to 2000, plus the geostationary GOES images of the last three months for live storms over the Americas. Storms before 2000 have a photo on their card, but no picture to drape on the globe.
Why does warm water matter so much?
A tropical cyclone is a heat engine fuelled by evaporation from the sea. Warmer water puts more moisture and energy into the air, which is why the strongest storms grow over pools of very warm, deep water such as the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico or the West Pacific Warm Pool. Switch the globe to sea temperature to see them.
Where the data comes from
- Live storms: NOAA National Hurricane Center advisories (Atlantic, east and central Pacific), via NOAA's tropical weather map service; and the IBTrACS active-storm file from NOAA NCEI for other oceans (Joint Typhoon Warning Center tracks, updated about twice a week).
- Historic tracks: IBTrACS v04r01, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, which includes NHC's HURDAT2 and JTWC's best tracks.
- Satellite pictures on the globe: NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS): Terra MODIS, Suomi NPP VIIRS, and NOAA GOES-East and GOES-West.
- Sea temperature, currents and wind under the storms: NOAA Coral Reef Watch, HYCOM (U.S. Navy) and NOAA GFS, the same live data as the Ocean Current Simulator.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, public domain or free attribution licences, credited under each photo.
This page is for learning, not for safety decisions. If a storm threatens you, follow your national weather service and local emergency officials.
See the ocean currents that steer and feed these storms in the Ocean Current Simulator.