No active hurricanes threatening Lafayette right now

Could the next one hit soon? 154 hurricanes have impacted the Lafayette area since 1856 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

154
Hurricanes affecting Lafayette area
2024
Most recent
155 kt
Strongest peak winds
6 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Lafayette's inland location puts storm surge risk lower than coastal parishes, but extreme rainfall and inland flooding — intensified during recent hurricanes like Ida (2021) — are the primary hazards, with powerful winds from close-passing storms also capable of major damage.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Lafayette area — including Scott, Carencro, Broussard, Duson, Youngsville, Milton, Maurice, Rayne. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Lafayette area?

Distribution of 154 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Lafayette, by month of closest approach.

J
F
M
A
1 M
14 J
17 J
40 A
58 S
24 O
N
D

Recent notable storms affecting the Lafayette area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2024 FRANCINE Cat 2 90 kt 77 mi
2021 NICHOLAS Cat 1 65 kt 24 mi
2021 IDA Cat 4 130 kt 76 mi
2020 DELTA Cat 4 120 kt 54 mi
2020 MARCO Cat 1 65 kt 80 mi
2020 LAURA Cat 4 130 kt 83 mi
2020 ZETA Cat 3 100 kt 111 mi
2019 BARRY Cat 1 65 kt 33 mi
2017 HARVEY Cat 4 115 kt 70 mi
2017 NATE Cat 1 80 kt 180 mi
2012 ISAAC Cat 1 70 kt 39 mi
2008 GUSTAV Cat 4 135 kt 36 mi
2008 IKE Cat 4 125 kt 174 mi
2007 HUMBERTO Cat 1 80 kt 75 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2007 that came within 200 miles of Lafayette. 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 Lafayette

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1966 UNNAMED TD 25 kt 6 mi Jul 27, 1966
1863 UNNAMED TS 60 kt 7 mi Sep 30, 1863
1856 UNNAMED Cat 4 130 kt 8 mi Aug 11, 1856
1985 JUAN Cat 1 75 kt 8 mi Oct 29, 1985
2011 LEE TS 50 kt 13 mi Sep 04, 2011
1974 CARMEN Cat 4 130 kt 17 mi Sep 08, 1974
1937 UNNAMED TS 40 kt 18 mi Oct 03, 1937
1914 UNNAMED TS 60 kt 20 mi Sep 19, 1914
1992 ANDREW Cat 5 150 kt 21 mi Aug 26, 1992
2021 NICHOLAS Cat 1 65 kt 24 mi Sep 15, 2021
Showing the 10 closest of 154 total storms within 150 mi of Lafayette since 1856.

If a hurricane threatens Lafayette

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

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Lafayette (30.2361°N, 92.0083°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Lafayette — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.