No active hurricanes threatening Mobile right now

Could the next one hit soon? 167 hurricanes have impacted the Mobile area since 1851 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

167
Hurricanes affecting Mobile area
2024
Most recent
150 kt
Strongest peak winds
3 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Mobile's location on a protected bay off the central Gulf Coast and long history of close hurricane tracks make storm surge and coastal flooding the dominant threats, with Hurricane Sally's 2020 surge and prolonged flooding underscoring the city's vulnerability.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Mobile area — including Spanish Fort, Saraland, Daphne, Eight Mile, Satsuma, Montrose, Theodore, Semmes. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Mobile area?

Distribution of 167 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Mobile, by month of closest approach.

J
F
M
A
1 M
15 J
19 J
34 A
62 S
34 O
2 N
D

Recent notable storms affecting the Mobile area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2024 FRANCINE Cat 2 90 kt 135 mi
2021 IDA Cat 4 130 kt 162 mi
2020 SALLY Cat 2 95 kt 30 mi
2020 ZETA Cat 3 100 kt 116 mi
2020 MARCO Cat 1 65 kt 142 mi
2019 BARRY Cat 1 65 kt 178 mi
2018 MICHAEL Cat 5 140 kt 157 mi
2017 NATE Cat 1 80 kt 53 mi
2012 ISAAC Cat 1 70 kt 148 mi
2009 IDA Cat 2 90 kt 28 mi
2008 GUSTAV Cat 4 135 kt 188 mi
2008 PALOMA Cat 4 125 kt 192 mi
2007 HUMBERTO Cat 1 80 kt 188 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2007 that came within 200 miles of Mobile. 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 Mobile

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1944 UNNAMED TS 55 kt 3 mi Sep 11, 1944
1885 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 7 mi Sep 28, 1885
2002 HANNA TS 50 kt 8 mi Sep 14, 2002
1950 BAKER Cat 2 90 kt 8 mi Aug 31, 1950
1922 UNNAMED TS 45 kt 11 mi Oct 17, 1922
1870 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 14 mi Jul 30, 1870
1887 UNNAMED Cat 1 75 kt 14 mi Oct 19, 1887
1977 UNNAMED TD 30 kt 14 mi Jul 19, 1977
1911 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 17 mi Aug 12, 1911
1894 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 17 mi Aug 08, 1894
Showing the 10 closest of 167 total storms within 150 mi of Mobile since 1851.

If a hurricane threatens Mobile

  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 Mobile

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Mobile (30.6959°N, 88.0434°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Mobile — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.