Hurricanes guides
Hurricane guides to prepare, evacuate, stay safe and read the forecast
Plain-language hurricane guides: what the watches, categories and forecast cone mean, how to prepare, when to evacuate and how to recover.
Prepare
Before a storm: plans, supplies and your home.
Preparing
Hurricane preparedness checklistGet ready for a hurricane with this NWS and Ready.gov checklist: know your zone, build a kit, make a family plan, review insurance and protect windows.Read guide Preparing
How to make a hurricane evacuation planHow to make a hurricane evacuation plan before an order comes: check your zone, pick more than one place to go, plan for pets and keep a go bag.Read guide Preparing
Hurricane evacuation zones: what they mean and how to find yoursWhat a hurricane evacuation zone is, how to find yours, and what an evacuation order means. Zones are set locally; this guide points to official lookups.Read guide Preparing
Hurricane shelters: how to find one and what to bringHow to find a shelter before a hurricane, what the Red Cross says to bring, why a mobile home is not safe shelter, and what to do if you stay home.Read guide Preparing
Securing your home and yard before a hurricaneSecure your home, yard and belongings before a hurricane the way FEMA and NOAA advise, including what not to do with window tape.Read guide Understanding
How to read the hurricane cone and what it does not showRead the NHC forecast cone correctly. See how its size is set from past forecast errors, what it leaves out, and how the wind and warning graphic works.Read guide Understanding
When is hurricane season? Atlantic and eastern Pacific dates and peakOfficial start and end dates of hurricane season for the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, when activity peaks, and what an average season looks like.Read guide Stay safe
When a watch or warning is in effect.
Staying safe
What to do in a hurricane warningEvacuate if ordered, know where to shelter if you stay, and watch for dangers beyond the wind in a hurricane warning. From NWS guidance.Read guide Forecast models
European and GFS hurricane models, and which one is more accurateThe European (ECMWF) and American (GFS) hurricane models explained, what the NHC found about their accuracy, and why the official forecast comes first.Read guide Recover
After the storm.
Understand the hazard
What the terms, scales and forecasts mean.
Storm intensity
Tropical depression vs tropical storm vs hurricaneSee the wind speed that separates a tropical depression, a tropical storm and a hurricane, and what comes before and after each stage.Read guide Warnings
Hurricane watch vs warningA hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible and a warning means they are expected. Here is what to do in each, from official sources.Read guide Storm intensity
Hurricane categories 1 to 5, explainedThere are five hurricane categories, from Category 1 at 74 mph to Category 5 at 157 mph or higher, with wind speeds in mph, knots and km/h from the NHC.Read guide Impacts
What is storm surge?What storm surge is, why it can flood coastal areas far from a hurricane's forecast track, and why the cone and the category do not show surge risk.Read guide Forecast models
How spaghetti models workSpaghetti model lines show many possible hurricane tracks. See why they spread out and why no single line is the official forecast.Read guide