Mississippi Hurricane Season

Q: How often does Mississippi get hit by hurricanes?

NOAA's landfall list records 21 hurricane strikes on Mississippi between 1851 and 2025, which averages out to about one every 8 years. Treat that as an average and not a schedule: strikes cluster, decades can pass quietly, and NOAA itself cautions that the earliest decades of the record are incomplete in places. 8 of those strikes were major (Category 3 or higher) in Mississippi.

Q: What was the strongest hurricane to hit Mississippi?

By NOAA's own per-state attribution, the strongest in the record: Camille in 1969 (Category 5 in Mississippi, 900 mb at landfall); Katrina in 2005 (Category 3 in Mississippi, 920 mb at landfall); Middle Gulf Shore in 1855 (Category 3 in Mississippi, 945 mb at landfall). The full table on this page lists every entry with NOAA's category, central pressure, and maximum winds.

Q: When was the last hurricane to hit Mississippi?

The most recent hurricane strike in NOAA's list for Mississippi is Zeta in 2020 (Category 2 in this state). The list runs through the 2025 season; anything newer than that, and anything currently active, belongs to the National Hurricane Center at nhc.noaa.gov.

Q: Has a hurricane ever hit Mississippi in November?

Not in NOAA's landfall list for Mississippi. November strikes on the US are rare everywhere: the record's November entries are concentrated in Florida and the Carolinas. The season officially runs through November 30 all the same.

Q: Is a hurricane coming to Mississippi right now?

The panel near the top of this page republishes the latest NHC public advisories and outlook, verbatim and timestamped. The National Hurricane Center at nhc.noaa.gov publishes every active storm, forecast, watch and warning, and your state and local emergency management agencies issue evacuation decisions. During any active storm, those are the sources to act on.

Season dates, the months storms have actually arrived, and every strike NOAA has recorded, from the agency record.

Hurricane season is open right now: it runs June 1 to November 30. For anything live, use the National Hurricane Center, not this page.

Season

Jun 1 to Nov 30

NOAA recorded strikes

Peak month here

September

Is there a storm near Mississippi right now? Go to the National Hurricane Center.

The panel just below republishes the National Hurricane Center’s own latest advisories and outlook, verbatim and timestamped. Tracks, cones and forecasts are the National Hurricane Center’s. If a storm is active or approaching, NHC is the source of official forecasts and warnings, and your emergency management agency is the source of evacuation and shelter decisions.

National Hurricane Center for current storms, forecasts, watches, and warnings
Your state emergency management agency for evacuation orders and shelter information
Ready.gov hurricane preparedness for how to prepare, in FEMA’s own words

“It only takes one hurricane (or tropical storm) to cause a disaster.” NOAA Climate Prediction Center

What NHC is saying right now

Republished verbatim from the National Hurricane Center via the National Weather Service API, with NHC’s own issuance times. For anything that matters, read it at nhc.noaa.gov where it is always current.

Loading the latest NHC products…

Mississippi hurricane season at a glance

Climatology and history, never a forecast

Today

The bar marks mid August to mid October. NHC: "The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October." The season itself runs June 1 to November 30.

hurricane strikes in NOAA's list

1851 to 2025

major (Cat 3+) strikes

as attributed by NOAA AOML

September

busiest month here

11 of 21 in the record

~8 yrs

average gap between events

an average, not a schedule

Mississippi's short coast catches a large share of major hurricanes for its length because storms crossing the central Gulf arrive with the whole basin's fetch behind them. Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 both put this coastline in the record books.

The dates

When is hurricane season in Mississippi?

The season dates are set by NOAA, they are the same for the whole Atlantic basin, and they are worth quoting rather than paraphrasing:

“The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.”National Hurricane Center, source

“The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.”National Hurricane Center, source

Those are basin-wide dates. What they mean for Mississippi specifically is in the month histogram below: the calendar of storms that have actually arrived here, which is narrower than the season and different for every state.

The season dates are also not walls. NHC is explicit that storms sometimes form outside the official window; the off season page counts exactly how often. See the December to May record.

NOAA’s outlook for the 2026 season

NOAA Climate Prediction Center, issued 6 August 2026. Snapshot taken 2026-08-27; always current at the source.

“NOAA's updated outlook for the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season indicates that a below-normal season is the most likely outcome, with low chances for a near-normal season, and a very small chance that the season would be above-normal.”

7 to 13 named storms
2 to 6 hurricanes
0 to 2 major hurricanes

“NOAA does not make seasonal hurricane landfall predictions. Hurricane landfalls are largely determined by the weather patterns in place as the hurricane approaches, and those patterns are usually only predictable when the storm is within several days of making landfall.” NOAA Climate Prediction Center

Satellite image of Hurricane Hugo, a large hurricane with a well defined eye, approaching the southeastern United States coast — Hurricane Hugo from NOAA's polar orbiting satellite on September 21, 1989, approaching its South Carolina landfall. September is the peak of the season basin-wide, and September leads the strike record in Mississippi. “Hugo 1989-09-21 1844Z” — NOAA Satellite and Information Service — Public domain

The calendar

Which months hurricanes actually hit in Mississippi

This histogram counts the hurricane strikes NOAA's landfall list attributes to Mississippi, by month, across the whole 1851 to 2025 record. It is a record of what happened, not a forecast of any year.

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Hurricane strikes on Mississippi by month, 1851 to 2025, as attributed by NOAA AOML's continental US hurricane landfall list.

September accounts for 11 of the 21 events in the record here. A month with zero strikes is not a month with zero risk: the basin-wide season runs June through November everywhere, and the routing block at the top of this page applies in all of them.

Satellite image of Hurricane Nicole, a broad late season hurricane over the western Atlantic, approaching the Florida east coast at night — Hurricane Nicole from NOAA’s VIIRS satellite on November 10, 2022, two days before the end of climatology charts would suggest the Atlantic quiets down. November strikes are rare and real: the month pages count every one. “Hurricane Nicole at 0657 UTC November 10, 2022” — NOAA-20 VIIRS via CIMSS — Public domain

The record

Every hurricane strike NOAA has recorded on Mississippi

Reproduced from NOAA AOML’s continental US hurricane landfall list, with NOAA’s own per-state category attribution. “Category in Mississippi” is the Saffir-Simpson category NOAA assigns for this state specifically, which is often lower than the storm’s landfall category elsewhere.

Year	Month	Name	Category in Mississippi	Highest US category	Pressure	Max wind
2020	Oct	Zeta	Category 2	Cat 3	970 mb	100 kt
2017	Oct	Nate	Category 1	Cat 1	983 mb	65 kt
2005	Aug	Katrina	Category 3	Cat 3	920 mb	110 kt
1998	Sep	Georges	Category 2	Cat 2	964 mb	90 kt
1985	Sep	Elena	Category 3	Cat 3	959 mb	100 kt
1979	Sep	Frederic	Category 3	Cat 3	946 mb	n/a
1969	Aug	Camille	Category 5	Cat 5	900 mb	150 kt
1960	Sep	Ethel	Category 1	Cat 1	980 mb	80 kt
1947	Sep	Unnamed	Category 2	Cat 4	943 mb	115 kt
1926	Sep	Great Miami	Category 1	Cat 4	930 mb	125 kt
1923	Oct	Unnamed	Category 1	Cat 1	983 mb	70 kt
1916	Jul	Unnamed	Category 3	Cat 3	950 mb	105 kt
1915	Sep	New Orleans	Category 2	Cat 3	944 mb	110 kt
1909	Sep	Grand Isle	Category 2	Cat 3	952 mb	105 kt
1906	Sep	Unnamed	Category 2	Cat 2	958 mb	95 kt
1901	Aug	Unnamed	Category 1	Cat 1	973 mb	75 kt
1893	Oct	Chenier Caminanda	Category 2	Cat 4	948 mb	115 kt
1888	Aug	Unnamed (inland)	Category 1	Cat 3	945 mb	110 kt
1860	Aug	Unnamed	Category 3	Cat 3	945 mb	110 kt
1860	Sep	Unnamed	Category 2	Cat 2	965 mb	90 kt
1855	Sep	Middle Gulf Shore	Category 3	Cat 3	945 mb	110 kt
1852	Aug	Great Mobile	Category 3	Cat 3	961 mb	100 kt

How complete is this record?

“Because of the sparseness of towns and cities before 1900 in some coastal locations along the United States, the above list is not complete for all states. Before the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts became settled, hurricanes may have been underestimated in their intensity or missed completely for small-sized systems (i.e., 2004's Hurricane Charley).”NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division, source

Wrecked wooden houses collapsed into fields of splintered debris after the 1900 Galveston hurricane — Galveston, Texas after the September 1900 hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in US history and the first entry most people know in the strike list this page reproduces. The oldest entries in NOAA's record for Mississippi sit in living memory of this photograph. “Wrecked Houses in the Aftermath of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900” — SMU Central University Libraries — Public domain

Reading the table

What the categories mean, and how they land in Mississippi

NHC’s definitions, in its own words: a tropical storm has maximum sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph, a hurricane 74 mph or higher, and a major hurricane 111 mph or higher, corresponding to Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Category measures wind only: water, historically the deadlier hazard, is not in the number, which is one more reason a history page must never stand in for the National Hurricane Center during a real storm.

Cat 1

Cat 2

Cat 3

Cat 4

Cat 5

Hurricane strikes on Mississippi by NOAA-attributed category in this state, 1851 to 2025.

A car left tipped onto a chain link fence by Hurricane Camille storm surge in Biloxi, Mississippi — Hurricane Camille's storm surge left this car on a fence in Biloxi, Mississippi in August 1969. NOAA photograph. Camille is one of the very few Category 5 entries in the landfall list this page reproduces. “Camille Biloxi Car” — NOAA — Public domain

Common questions

Mississippi hurricane season FAQ

When is hurricane season in Mississippi?

The National Hurricane Center's dates apply to the whole Atlantic basin, Mississippi included: "The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30." NHC also states: "The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October." For Mississippi specifically, the strike record peaks in September, with 11 of the 21 recorded strikes.

How often does Mississippi get hit by hurricanes?

What was the strongest hurricane to hit Mississippi?

When was the last hurricane to hit Mississippi?

Has a hurricane ever hit Mississippi in November?

Is a hurricane coming to Mississippi right now?

What do hurricane categories actually measure?

Wind, and only wind. NHC defines a hurricane as a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 74 mph or higher, and a major hurricane as 111 mph or higher (Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale). Storm surge and rainfall flooding are not part of the category, which is one reason the category of an approaching storm never tells the whole story and official guidance does.

Keep planning

More for the Mississippi coast

Mississippi beach conditionsLive rip current and surf risk from the National Weather Service, reproduced as issued.Mississippi mosquito forecastThe weeks after a tropical system are peak mosquito weeks. Timing and risk by state.Hurricane season nationwideSeason dates, the September 10 peak, and strike history for every coastal state.

Hurricane season by state

Hurricane season by month

Strike counts and categories are reproduced from NOAA AOML’s continental US hurricane landfall list (Revised in March 2026 to add in the 2025 season) and NOAA HURDAT2. Season dates and peak are NHC’s, quoted. These are historical records and season climatology. For a live forecast or watch: nhc.noaa.gov.
Hero image: “Katrina 2005-08-28 2245Z” — U.S. Navy / Naval Research Laboratory — Public domain