No active hurricanes threatening Morehead City right now

Could the next one hit soon? 279 hurricanes have impacted the Morehead City area since 1851 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

279
Hurricanes affecting Morehead City area
2025
Most recent
160 kt
Strongest peak winds
4 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Morehead City's low-lying waterfront on Bogue Sound and the nearby barrier islands make storm surge the principal threat, with powerful surge and wind impacts from recent storms such as Hurricane Idalia (2023) and repeated major strikes in the 2010s–2020s.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Morehead City area — including Atlantic Beach, Beaufort, Salter Path, Newport, Harkers Island, Gloucester, Marshallberg, Smyrna. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Morehead City area?

Distribution of 279 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Morehead City, by month of closest approach.

J
1 F
M
A
12 M
35 J
28 J
52 A
88 S
52 O
9 N
2 D

Recent notable storms affecting the Morehead City area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2025 DEXTER Cat 1 70 kt 124 mi
2024 DEBBY Cat 1 70 kt 197 mi
2023 IDALIA Cat 4 115 kt 72 mi
2022 IAN Cat 5 140 kt 147 mi
2021 ELSA Cat 1 75 kt 138 mi
2020 ISAIAS Cat 1 80 kt 79 mi
2020 ETA Cat 4 130 kt 97 mi
2019 DORIAN Cat 5 160 kt 44 mi
2018 FLORENCE Cat 4 130 kt 44 mi
2018 MICHAEL Cat 5 140 kt 134 mi
2018 CHRIS Cat 2 90 kt 136 mi
2016 HERMINE Cat 1 70 kt 28 mi
2016 MATTHEW Cat 5 145 kt 43 mi
2014 ARTHUR Cat 2 85 kt 9 mi
2011 IRENE Cat 3 105 kt 9 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2006 that came within 200 miles of Morehead City. 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 Morehead City

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1894 UNNAMED Cat 3 105 kt 4 mi Sep 28, 1894
1955 CONNIE Cat 4 120 kt 4 mi Aug 12, 1955
1955 IONE Cat 4 120 kt 4 mi Sep 19, 1955
1964 ISBELL Cat 3 100 kt 4 mi Oct 16, 1964
1970 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 4 mi Aug 17, 1970
1918 UNNAMED Cat 1 65 kt 6 mi Aug 24, 1918
1971 DORIA TS 55 kt 6 mi Aug 27, 1971
1861 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 9 mi Nov 02, 1861
1901 UNNAMED Cat 1 70 kt 9 mi Jul 12, 1901
1913 UNNAMED Cat 1 75 kt 9 mi Sep 03, 1913
Showing the 10 closest of 279 total storms within 150 mi of Morehead City since 1851.

If a hurricane threatens Morehead City

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Carteret 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 Morehead City

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Morehead City (34.7253°N, 76.7531°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Morehead City — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.