Hurricane Zones

Hurricane Seasons

In the north Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea, the hurricane season lasts from June to November with a peak in September. Most initially move west over tropical and subtropical waters, and then curve northwest, while some continue a turn toward the north and northeast. The entire North Atlantic north to Newfoundland and Iceland may be considered a hurricane zone, because the storms may affect any region as they move north and northeast. Inland hurricane zones affected by Atlantic hurricanes include all islands of the Caribbean; Central America from Nicaragua northward; and eastern portions of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Damaging impacts of rain and wind from hurricanes may extend more than 620 miles inland in the United States.

The eastern north Pacific hurricane season is from May to October, with a peak in August and September. Most hurricanes form off the west coast of Mexico and move northwestward to dissipate before reaching 35 degrees N or 165 degrees W. The inland hurricane zones affected by eastern north Pacific hurricanes include western Mexico, the southwestern margins of the continental United States, and Hawaii, although landfalling hurricanes are rare in the latter two.

Typhoons may form any time of the year in the western north Pacific, although they are least common in February and March and most frequent in August and September. The hurricane zone extends westward from about 170 degrees E to coasts of Asia and north to about 45 degrees N. The inland hurricane zones of the western north Pacific extend across Micronesia, north of 6 degrees N, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, eastern China and adjacent islands, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula. In the western south Pacific Ocean, the tropical cyclone season extends from November to May, with a peak in February and March. The cyclone zone is from 140 degrees W to Australia and southward from the tropics to 40 degrees S. The inland cyclone zones impacted by these storms are the coastal areas of Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia; other smaller islands of the region; and rarely, New Zealand.

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