The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Explained

June is the start of hurricane season; however, it's rare to see storms hit the U.S. at hurricane strength in the month. The last one happened nearly four decades ago. Although, as we've seen many times, tropical storms can still be menacing.

Big Picture

• It's Been 39 Years: The last June U.S. hurricane landfall happened in 1986 when Bonnie struck the upper Texas coast. It came ashore as a Category 1 and produced moderate damage from near Port Arthur, Texas, to southwest Louisiana.
• Just 4 U.S. Hurricane Landfalls Since 1950: The other three were Agnes (1972), Alma (1966) and Audrey (1957). All of those also made landfall on the Gulf Coast after forming either in the northwest Caribbean or the Gulf.
• More Have Occurred Farther Back In History, Even One In May: NOAA has documented over a dozen additional unnamed hurricanes that made a U.S. landfall in June from 1851 through 1949. A 2013 study even discovered a U.S. hurricane landfall along the Gulf Coast in late May of 1863.

Deeper Dive

• Audrey Was The Strongest June U.S. Landfall: It roared ashore as a Category 3 on June 27, 1957, near the border between Louisiana and Texas. The hurricane rapidly strengthened just before landfall and pushed a destructive storm surge of 8 to 12 feet into southwest Louisiana. Audrey killed 416 people in the U.S. and many of those deaths were from storm surge.
• Agnes Was Another Very Deadly June Storm: While it made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in the Florida Panhandle, it was a second chapter of Agnes as a tropical storm that was most impactful since it produced disastrous flooding in the Northeast. The most severe flooding from Agnes occurred in areas from Virginia to Pennsylvania and New York. A majority of the 122 deaths from Agnes were because of this flooding.
• June Tropical Storms Have Been Impactful Many Times: Allison's multi-billion-dollar, deadly flood disaster across the Houston metro area in early June 2001 is probably the starkest example of major impacts from a tropical storm. Last year, Tropical Storm Alberto tracked into eastern Mexico on June 20 but still produced 2 to 4 feet of storm surge on the Texas coast and brought 5 to 8 inches of rain to South Texas. Claudette (2021) and Cristobal (2020) are also examples of recent impactful tropical storms to hit the Gulf Coast in the month.

More To Know

• June Atlantic Basin Hurricanes Are Also Infrequent: When zooming out beyond the U.S., the month in general doesn't produce many hurricanes. Beryl is the last one in 2024 and was a rarity since it became the first June Category 4 on record as it approached the Caribbean on the month's last day. Before that, you have to go back to Chris in 2012 to find another Atlantic hurricane in June.
• Major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger) In June Are Extremely Rare: The month has accounted for just 1% of all the Atlantic majors since 1851, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, a tropical scientist at Colorado State University. That emphasizes how rare hurricane Beryl was for June.

Chris Dolce has been a senior digital meteorologist with weather.com for nearly 15 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.