No active hurricanes threatening West Palm Beach right now

Could the next one hit soon? 219 hurricanes have impacted the West Palm Beach area since 1852 — set up free alerts so you'll have time to prepare when one's on the way.

219
Hurricanes affecting West Palm Beach area
2024
Most recent
160 kt
Strongest peak winds
2 mi
Closest approach
Local note: West Palm Beach's low-lying Atlantic coastline and proximity to the Florida Straits make storm surge and coastal flooding the dominant threats, with repeated impacts in recent years including Hurricane Nicole (2022) and back-to-back major strikes in 2020–2022.

Coverage on this page applies broadly to the West Palm Beach area — including Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Palm Beach Gardens, Boynton Beach, Loxahatchee, Jupiter, Delray Beach. Tropical storms rarely respect city limits.

When do hurricanes typically threaten the West Palm Beach area?

Distribution of 219 hurricanes that have come within 150 mi of West Palm Beach, by month of closest approach.

J
1 F
M
A
8 M
17 J
14 J
51 A
61 S
56 O
10 N
1 D

Recent notable storms affecting the West Palm Beach area

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach
2025 IMELDA Cat 1 80 kt 175 mi
2024 MILTON Cat 5 155 kt 122 mi
2022 NICOLE Cat 1 65 kt 44 mi
2022 IAN Cat 5 140 kt 93 mi
2021 ELSA Cat 1 75 kt 194 mi
2020 ISAIAS Cat 1 80 kt 36 mi
2020 SALLY Cat 2 95 kt 77 mi
2020 ETA Cat 4 130 kt 131 mi
2019 DORIAN Cat 5 160 kt 97 mi
2019 HUMBERTO Cat 3 110 kt 176 mi
2017 IRMA Cat 5 155 kt 101 mi
2016 MATTHEW Cat 5 145 kt 66 mi
2014 ARTHUR Cat 2 85 kt 76 mi
2012 SANDY Cat 3 100 kt 178 mi
2011 IRENE Cat 3 105 kt 178 mi
Hurricane-strength storms (Cat 1+) since 2006 that came within 200 miles of West Palm 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 West Palm Beach

Year Name Peak Cat Peak Winds Closest Approach Date of Closest
1888 UNNAMED TS 50 kt 2 mi Sep 08, 1888
1928 UNNAMED Cat 5 140 kt 4 mi Sep 17, 1928
1962 ALMA Cat 1 75 kt 6 mi Aug 26, 1962
1946 UNNAMED TS 40 kt 8 mi Nov 01, 1946
1949 UNNAMED Cat 4 115 kt 8 mi Aug 27, 1949
1976 DOTTIE TS 45 kt 8 mi Aug 19, 1976
1971 BETH Cat 1 75 kt 10 mi Aug 10, 1971
1933 UNNAMED Cat 4 120 kt 13 mi Sep 04, 1933
1981 UNNAMED TD 30 kt 16 mi Jul 02, 1981
1865 UNNAMED Cat 2 90 kt 17 mi Oct 23, 1865
Showing the 10 closest of 219 total storms within 150 mi of West Palm Beach since 1852.

If a hurricane threatens West Palm Beach

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

Historical data: NOAA HURDAT2 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific hurricane databases. Closest-approach calculated using great-circle distance between West Palm Beach (26.714°N, 80.0659°W) and each 6-hourly observation. Storms are included if their center passed within 150 mi of West Palm Beach — impacts (wind, surge, rainfall) routinely extend much further.