No active hurricanes threatening Brownsville right now

Could the next one hit soon? 107 hurricanes have impacted the Brownsville area since 1854 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

107
Hurricanes affecting Brownsville area
2024
Most recent
165 kt
Strongest peak winds
5 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Sitting at the southern tip of Texas on the upper Laguna Madre with very low elevation, Brownsville is especially vulnerable to storm surge and catastrophic coastal flooding — recent impacts from Hurricane Beryl (2024) and repeated landfalling storms underscore surge and wind as the defining hazards.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Brownsville area — including Olmito, Los Fresnos, San Benito, Los Indios, Lozano, Port Isabel, Rio Hondo, Harlingen. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Brownsville area?

Distribution of 107 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Brownsville, by month of closest approach.

J
F
M
A
M
19 J
14 J
30 A
36 S
7 O
1 N
D

Recent notable storms affecting the Brownsville area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2024 BERYL Cat 5 145 kt 134 mi
2024 FRANCINE Cat 2 90 kt 145 mi
2021 NICHOLAS Cat 1 65 kt 51 mi
2020 HANNA Cat 1 80 kt 53 mi
2017 HARVEY Cat 4 115 kt 110 mi
2013 INGRID Cat 1 75 kt 155 mi
2010 ALEX Cat 2 95 kt 114 mi
2008 DOLLY Cat 2 85 kt 33 mi
2007 HUMBERTO Cat 1 80 kt 182 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2007 that came within 200 miles of Brownsville. Includes storms whose center stayed offshore or hit nearby cities — wind, surge, and rainfall impacts extend far beyond the storm's path.

All-time closest approaches to Brownsville

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1857 UNNAMED Cat 2 90 kt 5 mi Sep 30, 1857
1865 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 5 mi Jun 30, 1865
1933 UNNAMED Cat 5 140 kt 12 mi Sep 05, 1933
1880 UNNAMED Cat 4 130 kt 13 mi Aug 13, 1880
1887 UNNAMED Cat 2 85 kt 18 mi Sep 21, 1887
1909 UNNAMED Cat 2 85 kt 18 mi Jun 29, 1909
1936 UNNAMED TS 45 kt 20 mi Sep 13, 1936
1886 UNNAMED Cat 2 85 kt 20 mi Sep 23, 1886
1967 BEULAH Cat 5 140 kt 20 mi Sep 20, 1967
2010 TWO TD 30 kt 21 mi Jul 08, 2010
Showing the 10 closest of 107 total storms within 150 mi of Brownsville since 1854.

If a hurricane threatens Brownsville

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Cameron County and surrounding areas).
  2. Set up alerts ahead of time. During an active storm, watches and warnings change every six hours. Email or text alerts from TropicalInfo give you the official NHC update the moment it's posted, with a plain-language summary.
  3. Prep your supplies before the storm is named. Stores empty out within hours of a watch. The 72-hour rule: water, food, batteries, fuel, medications, important documents. Our alerts can notify you of a storm long before it makes the news — giving you more time to get what you need before the panic-buying starts.
  4. Follow the cone, not the line. The forecast track is a best estimate — the cone shows where the center is likely to go. Impacts extend hundreds of miles from the center.

Set up free location-based alerts for Brownsville

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Brownsville (25.9337°N, 97.5174°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Brownsville — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.