No active hurricanes threatening Jacksonville right now

Could the next one hit soon? 258 hurricanes have impacted the Jacksonville area since 1851 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

258
Hurricanes affecting Jacksonville area
2025
Most recent
160 kt
Strongest peak winds
5 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Low-lying coastal position on the Outer Banks soundside makes storm surge and coastal flooding the dominant threat for Jacksonville — recent major impacts from Hurricanes Dorian (2019) and Idalia (2023) underline the city's exposure to powerful storms that can send large surge into estuaries and inland waterways.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Jacksonville area — including Mccutcheon Field, Tarawa Terrace, Midway Park, Camp Lejeune, Richlands, Sneads Ferry, Hubert, Maysville. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Jacksonville area?

Distribution of 258 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Jacksonville, by month of closest approach.

J
1 F
M
A
10 M
35 J
26 J
46 A
81 S
50 O
7 N
2 D

Recent notable storms affecting the Jacksonville area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2025 DEXTER Cat 1 70 kt 151 mi
2024 DEBBY Cat 1 70 kt 158 mi
2023 IDALIA Cat 4 115 kt 76 mi
2022 IAN Cat 5 140 kt 107 mi
2021 ELSA Cat 1 75 kt 102 mi
2020 ISAIAS Cat 1 80 kt 40 mi
2020 ETA Cat 4 130 kt 134 mi
2020 SALLY Cat 2 95 kt 195 mi
2019 DORIAN Cat 5 160 kt 54 mi
2018 FLORENCE Cat 4 130 kt 40 mi
2018 MICHAEL Cat 5 140 kt 122 mi
2018 CHRIS Cat 2 90 kt 164 mi
2016 HERMINE Cat 1 70 kt 19 mi
2016 MATTHEW Cat 5 145 kt 59 mi
2014 ARTHUR Cat 2 85 kt 49 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2006 that came within 200 miles of Jacksonville. 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 Jacksonville

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1971 GINGER Cat 2 95 kt 5 mi Oct 01, 1971
1972 UNNAMED TD 25 kt 5 mi Jul 12, 1972
2001 ALLISON TS 50 kt 12 mi Jun 14, 2001
1960 DONNA Cat 4 125 kt 13 mi Sep 12, 1960
1857 UNNAMED Cat 2 90 kt 16 mi Sep 13, 1857
1888 UNNAMED Cat 2 95 kt 16 mi Oct 11, 1888
1998 BONNIE Cat 3 100 kt 16 mi Aug 27, 1998
1861 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 17 mi Sep 27, 1861
1964 DORA Cat 4 115 kt 18 mi Sep 13, 1964
1872 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 18 mi Oct 25, 1872
Showing the 10 closest of 258 total storms within 150 mi of Jacksonville since 1851.

If a hurricane threatens Jacksonville

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Onslow 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 Jacksonville

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Jacksonville (34.7375°N, 77.4628°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Jacksonville — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.