No active hurricanes threatening Vero Beach right now

Could the next one hit soon? 238 hurricanes have impacted the Vero Beach area since 1852 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

238
Hurricanes affecting Vero Beach area
2024
Most recent
160 kt
Strongest peak winds
5 mi
Closest approach
Local note: Low-lying barrier island and coastal plain terrain makes storm surge the primary hazard for Vero Beach, with powerful hurricanes including Hurricane Ian (2019/2022 East Coast impacts) and multiple Category 5s in recent decades showing how intense winds and surge can arrive from storms brushing the coast.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the Vero Beach area — including Winter Beach, Wabasso, Sebastian, Roseland, Fellsmere, Grant, Malabar, Melbourne Beach. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the Vero Beach area?

Distribution of 238 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of Vero Beach, by month of closest approach.

J
1 F
M
A
7 M
22 J
18 J
52 A
63 S
63 O
11 N
1 D

Recent notable storms affecting the Vero Beach area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2025 IMELDA Cat 1 80 kt 191 mi
2024 MILTON Cat 5 155 kt 64 mi
2022 NICOLE Cat 1 65 kt 7 mi
2022 IAN Cat 5 140 kt 43 mi
2021 ELSA Cat 1 75 kt 186 mi
2020 ISAIAS Cat 1 80 kt 52 mi
2020 SALLY Cat 2 95 kt 141 mi
2020 ETA Cat 4 130 kt 186 mi
2019 DORIAN Cat 5 160 kt 103 mi
2019 HUMBERTO Cat 3 110 kt 166 mi
2017 IRMA Cat 5 155 kt 98 mi
2016 MATTHEW Cat 5 145 kt 43 mi
2014 ARTHUR Cat 2 85 kt 68 mi
2011 IRENE Cat 3 105 kt 190 mi
2008 HANNA Cat 1 75 kt 123 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2006 that came within 200 miles of Vero Beach. 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 Vero Beach

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1995 ERIN Cat 2 85 kt 5 mi Aug 02, 1995
1928 UNNAMED Cat 2 90 kt 6 mi Aug 08, 1928
2022 NICOLE Cat 1 65 kt 7 mi Nov 10, 2022
1871 UNNAMED Cat 3 100 kt 8 mi Aug 25, 1871
1876 UNNAMED Cat 3 100 kt 11 mi Oct 20, 1876
1960 FLORENCE TS 50 kt 11 mi Sep 24, 1960
2017 EMILY TS 50 kt 12 mi Aug 01, 2017
1969 GERDA Cat 3 105 kt 18 mi Sep 07, 1969
1951 HOW Cat 2 85 kt 19 mi Oct 02, 1951
1954 UNNAMED TS 60 kt 19 mi Jun 20, 1954
Showing the 10 closest of 238 total storms within 150 mi of Vero Beach since 1852.

If a hurricane threatens Vero Beach

  1. Know your evacuation zone. Look up yours by address via your state or county emergency management office (Indian River 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 Vero Beach

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between Vero Beach (27.633°N, 80.4031°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of Vero Beach — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.