No active hurricanes threatening Dauphin Island right now

Could the next one hit soon? 177 hurricanes have impacted the Dauphin Island area since 1851 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

177
Hurricanes affecting Dauphin Island area
2024
Most recent
150 kt
Strongest peak winds
3 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Sitting on a low-lying barrier island at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Dauphin Island's greatest hazard is storm surge — recent landfalls from Hurricane Sally (2020) and damaging surge-producing storms like Ida (2021) underscore how even offshore tracks can inundate the island.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Dauphin Island area — including Coden, Bayou La Batre, Irvington, Point Clear, Saint Elmo, Theodore, Grand Bay, Magnolia Springs. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Dauphin Island area?

Distribution of 177 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Dauphin Island, by month of closest approach.

J
F
M
A
1 M
13 J
23 J
37 A
65 S
35 O
3 N
D

Recent notable storms affecting the Dauphin Island area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2024 FRANCINE Cat 2 90 kt 132 mi
2021 IDA Cat 4 130 kt 149 mi
2020 SALLY Cat 2 95 kt 25 mi
2020 ZETA Cat 3 100 kt 107 mi
2020 MARCO Cat 1 65 kt 111 mi
2019 BARRY Cat 1 65 kt 155 mi
2018 MICHAEL Cat 5 140 kt 139 mi
2017 NATE Cat 1 80 kt 50 mi
2012 ISAAC Cat 1 70 kt 121 mi
2009 IDA Cat 2 90 kt 7 mi
2008 GUSTAV Cat 4 135 kt 166 mi
2008 PALOMA Cat 4 125 kt 177 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2008 that came within 200 miles of Dauphin Island. 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 Dauphin Island

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1859 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 3 mi Sep 16, 1859
1926 UNNAMED Cat 4 130 kt 3 mi Sep 21, 1926
1932 UNNAMED Cat 1 75 kt 4 mi Sep 01, 1932
1997 DANNY Cat 1 70 kt 4 mi Jul 19, 1997
1947 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 6 mi Sep 08, 1947
2009 IDA Cat 2 90 kt 7 mi Nov 10, 2009
1950 BAKER Cat 2 90 kt 8 mi Aug 31, 1950
1944 UNNAMED TS 55 kt 12 mi Sep 10, 1944
1881 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 12 mi Aug 03, 1881
1889 UNNAMED Cat 2 95 kt 12 mi Sep 23, 1889
Showing the 10 closest of 177 total storms within 150 mi of Dauphin Island since 1851.

If a hurricane threatens Dauphin Island

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Mobile 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 Dauphin Island

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Dauphin Island (30.2521°N, 88.1096°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Dauphin Island — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.