No active hurricanes threatening Lake Charles right now

Could the next one hit soon? 143 hurricanes have impacted the Lake Charles area since 1854 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

143
Hurricanes affecting Lake Charles area
2024
Most recent
155 kt
Strongest peak winds
7 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Located on a low-lying estuarine lake and near the Gulf, Lake Charles is especially vulnerable to catastrophic storm surge and hurricane-force winds — recent close impacts from Hurricane Laura (2020) and the Cat 4/5 sequence in 2020–2024 underscore surge and extreme wind as the defining risks.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Lake Charles area — including Westlake, Iowa, Sulphur, Bell City, Ragley, Hayes, Fenton, Dequincy. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Lake Charles area?

Distribution of 143 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Lake Charles, by month of closest approach.

J
F
M
A
1 M
17 J
19 J
36 A
54 S
16 O
N
D

Recent notable storms affecting the Lake Charles area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2024 FRANCINE Cat 2 90 kt 130 mi
2024 BERYL Cat 5 145 kt 147 mi
2021 NICHOLAS Cat 1 65 kt 7 mi
2021 IDA Cat 4 130 kt 145 mi
2020 DELTA Cat 4 120 kt 19 mi
2020 LAURA Cat 4 130 kt 30 mi
2020 MARCO Cat 1 65 kt 94 mi
2020 ZETA Cat 3 100 kt 171 mi
2019 BARRY Cat 1 65 kt 26 mi
2017 HARVEY Cat 4 115 kt 16 mi
2012 ISAAC Cat 1 70 kt 104 mi
2008 GUSTAV Cat 4 135 kt 62 mi
2008 IKE Cat 4 125 kt 111 mi
2007 HUMBERTO Cat 1 80 kt 25 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2007 that came within 200 miles of Lake Charles. 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 Lake Charles

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
2021 NICHOLAS Cat 1 65 kt 7 mi Sep 15, 2021
2017 HARVEY Cat 4 115 kt 16 mi Aug 30, 2017
1863 UNNAMED TS 60 kt 17 mi Sep 30, 1863
1940 UNNAMED TS 45 kt 17 mi Sep 24, 1940
2020 DELTA Cat 4 120 kt 19 mi Oct 10, 2020
1908 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 22 mi Aug 01, 1908
1865 UNNAMED Cat 2 90 kt 22 mi Sep 14, 1865
2007 HUMBERTO Cat 1 80 kt 25 mi Sep 13, 2007
1954 BARBARA TS 50 kt 25 mi Jul 29, 1954
1955 UNNAMED TS 45 kt 25 mi Aug 27, 1955
Showing the 10 closest of 143 total storms within 150 mi of Lake Charles since 1854.

If a hurricane threatens Lake Charles

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Calcasieu 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 Lake Charles

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Lake Charles (30.2285°N, 93.1880°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Lake Charles — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.