No active hurricanes threatening Houston right now

Could the next one hit soon? 120 hurricanes have impacted the Houston area since 1851 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

120
Hurricanes affecting Houston area
2024
Most recent
155 kt
Strongest peak winds
2 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Houston's low-lying coastal plain and sprawling bayous make extreme rainfall and catastrophic inland flooding the dominant hurricane threat — Hurricane Harvey's 2017 record rainfall and flooding remain the defining recent event.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Houston area — including Fresno, Missouri City, Stafford, Bellaire, Sugar Land, Thompsons, Manvel, Alief. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Houston area?

Distribution of 120 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Houston, by month of closest approach.

J
F
M
A
M
22 J
20 J
29 A
40 S
9 O
N
D

Recent notable storms affecting the Houston area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2024 BERYL Cat 5 145 kt 38 mi
2024 FRANCINE Cat 2 90 kt 199 mi
2021 NICHOLAS Cat 1 65 kt 21 mi
2020 DELTA Cat 4 120 kt 128 mi
2020 LAURA Cat 4 130 kt 130 mi
2020 HANNA Cat 1 80 kt 173 mi
2020 MARCO Cat 1 65 kt 193 mi
2019 BARRY Cat 1 65 kt 166 mi
2017 HARVEY Cat 4 115 kt 87 mi
2008 IKE Cat 4 125 kt 50 mi
2008 GUSTAV Cat 4 135 kt 188 mi
2007 HUMBERTO Cat 1 80 kt 64 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2007 that came within 200 miles of Houston. 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 Houston

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1947 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 2 mi Aug 25, 1947
1899 UNNAMED TS 35 kt 7 mi Jun 27, 1899
1974 UNNAMED TD 30 kt 7 mi Aug 26, 1974
1995 DEAN TS 40 kt 7 mi Jul 31, 1995
2019 IMELDA TS 40 kt 7 mi Sep 18, 2019
1983 ALICIA Cat 3 100 kt 8 mi Aug 18, 1983
1989 ALLISON TS 45 kt 10 mi Jun 30, 1989
1871 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 11 mi Jun 04, 1871
2020 BETA TS 55 kt 14 mi Sep 23, 2020
1980 UNNAMED TD 30 kt 16 mi Jul 21, 1980
Showing the 10 closest of 120 total storms within 150 mi of Houston since 1851.

If a hurricane threatens Houston

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Fort Bend 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 Houston

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Houston (29.5962°N, 95.4587°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Houston — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.