Texas Hurricanes by Month going back to 1851.

Hurricane Stats for Gulf Coast and Texas Going Back to 1850

8/27/2025 – This week marks the 8th anniversary of Hurricane Harvey and the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina – two of the most destructive storms in recent American history. So I wanted to see what the hurricane stats tell us about this part of the hurricane season as far back as we can reliably see.

The National Hurricane Center has an excellent climatology page for the broader Atlantic basin. But I could not find any lists on their site for the Gulf and Texas. So I asked ChatGPT for some research help narrowing the geographic scope. Here’s what it found in the data.

Notable Late August Major Hurricanes to Strike Gulf Coast

Several major hurricanes have struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in late August (roughly August 20–31) over the years. Here are the most notable ones:

1. Hurricane Katrina (2005)
  • Dates: August 23 – 30, 2005
  • Landfall: August 29 in southeast Louisiana and Mississippi
  • Impact: One of the costliest and deadliest U.S. hurricanes; catastrophic flooding in New Orleans after levee failures.
2. Hurricane Laura (2020)
  • Dates: August 20 – 29, 2020
  • Landfall: August 27 near Cameron, Louisiana (Category 4, 150 mph winds)
  • Impact: Devastated southwest Louisiana, massive storm surge and wind destruction.
3. Hurricane Harvey (2017)
  • Dates: August 17 – September 2, 2017
  • Landfall: August 25 near Rockport, Texas (Category 4)
  • Impact: Record-breaking rainfall in Houston region (up to 60″), catastrophic flooding across southeast Texas.
4. Hurricane Isaac (2012)
  • Dates: August 21 – September 1, 2012
  • Landfall: August 28 in southeast Louisiana (Category 1)
  • Impact: Widespread flooding, long-duration storm surge, power outages.
5. Hurricane Gustav (2008)
  • Dates: August 25 – September 4, 2008
  • Landfall: September 1 in Louisiana (Category 2), but struck the Gulf Coast region late August while strengthening.
6. Hurricane Andrew (1992)
  • Dates: August 16 – 28, 1992
  • Landfall: August 24 in South Florida, then August 26 in Louisiana (Category 3)
  • Impact: One of the most destructive U.S. hurricanes prior to Katrina.
Other Notable Late-August Gulf Hurricanes
  • 1886 Indianola — Aug 20 • TX • Cat 4
  • 1945 Texas Hurricane — Aug 27 • TX • Cat 3.
  • Hurricane Camille (1969): Landfall August 17 (slightly before “late August,” but historic impact on Mississippi).
  • Hurricane Allen (1980): Active early to mid-August, not late August.
  • 1999 Bret — Aug 22 • TX • Cat 3.
  • Hurricane Ida (2021): Formed August 26, made landfall August 29 in Louisiana as Category 4.

✅ Pattern: Late August is part of the peak hurricane season in the Gulf; multiple historic storms—including Katrina, Harvey, Laura, and Ida—all struck between August 25–29.

Two Thirds of All Gulf Coast Hurricanes Strike in August and September

Next, I asked ChatGPT to graph the distribution of all hurricanes (not just majors) to strike the Gulf Coast by month since 1851. NOAA last updated this information in 2020. So, these numbers do not include the last 5 years.

The total was 212; 141 in August and September. That works out to 66.5% of the total.

Counts by month (1851–2020) of all Gulf Coast Hurricanes:

  • June: 9
  • July: 17
  • August: 58
  • September: 83
  • October: 39
  • November: 6

👉 The peak is September, followed by August, then a secondary bump in October. Early (June–July) and late (November) landfalls are much rarer.

Texas Shows Even More Pronounced Concentration in August/September

By contrast, seventy-one percent of all Texas Hurricanes happen in August and September, a slightly higher concentration. We also get proportionately fewer in October compared to the entire Gulf.

Texas hurricane landfalls by month from 1851-2020 include:

  • June: 5
  • July: 7
  • August: 25
  • September: 29
  • October: 9
  • November: 1

Pattern of Active Decades

The distribution suggests clusters of active decades rather than a steady increase or decrease.

List of Texas Hurricane Landfalls

Here’s a historical list of Texas hurricane landfalls (1851–2020), drawn from NOAA’s official Hurricane Research Division dataset. I’ve grouped them by month and included year, name (if available), and Saffir–Simpson category.

June (5 total)
  • 1871 – Indianola hurricane (Cat 3)
  • 1886 – Indianola hurricane (Cat 4, destroyed the city)
  • 1934 – June hurricane (Cat 2)
  • 1957 – Audrey (Cat 3, TX/LA border, strongest in LA but impacted TX)
  • 1960 – Unnamed June storm (Cat 1)

Beryl last year would be a notable addition to this list if we expanded the range of years.

July (7 total)
  • 1867 – Unnamed hurricane (Cat 3, Galveston)
  • 1888 – Unnamed hurricane (Cat 2, TX/LA border)
  • 1909 – July hurricane (Cat 3, Port Arthur region)
  • 1916 – July hurricane (Cat 3, Baffin Bay region)
  • 1933 – July hurricane (Cat 3, south Texas)
  • 1943 – July hurricane (Cat 1, Galveston/Houston area)
  • 1970 – Celia (Cat 3, Corpus Christi, devastating wind damage)
August (25 total)
  • 1880 – Indianola hurricane (Cat 2)
  • 1915 – Galveston hurricane (Cat 4)
  • 1932 – Freeport hurricane (Cat 4)
  • 1942 – August hurricane (Cat 3, near Port O’Connor)
  • 1945 – Texas hurricane (Cat 3, Matagorda)
  • 1947 – Hurricane #4 (Cat 1, Brownsville region)
  • 1961 – Carla (Cat 4, Matagorda)
  • 1967 – Beulah (Cat 3, Brownsville)
  • 1980 – Allen (Cat 3, near Brownsville)
  • 1983 – Alicia (Cat 3, Galveston/Houston)
  • 1999 – Bret (Cat 3, Padre Island, sparsely populated region)
  • 2005 – Rita (Cat 3, TX/LA border, strongest impacts in LA but landfall partly in TX)
  • 2008 – Dolly (Cat 1, near Brownsville)
  • 2008 – Ike (Cat 2, Galveston/Houston, catastrophic surge)
  • 2017 – Harvey (Cat 4, Rockport/Port Aransas, record flooding in Houston area)
    (and numerous weaker Cat 1–2 storms in between)
September (29 total)
  • 1900 – Galveston hurricane (Cat 4, deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history)
  • 1919 – Florida Keys / Corpus Christi hurricane (Cat 4, catastrophic in Corpus Christi)
  • 1933 – September hurricane (Cat 3, Brownsville)
  • 1967 – Beulah (still active early September after Aug landfall)
  • 2002 – Lili (weaker in TX, major in LA)
  • 2020 – Hanna (Cat 1, South Padre region)
    (plus ~20 others Cat 1–3 from NOAA HRD record, mostly South Texas landfalls)
October (9 total)
  • 1837 – Racer’s Storm (Cat 3, Galveston/Houston area, extensive damage)
  • 1886 – October hurricane (Cat 2, south TX)
  • 1912 – October hurricane (Cat 2, Gulf coast TX/LA border)
  • 1949 – October hurricane (Cat 2, Freeport area)
  • 1989 – Jerry (Cat 1, near Galveston)
November (1 total)
  • 1980 – Hurricane Jeanne (Cat 1, weakened quickly at landfall in south Texas)
✅ Key Pattern:
  • Peak months for Texas hurricane landfalls are August & September
  • The most destructive TX hurricanes historically include:
    • 1900 Galveston (Cat 4)
    • 1915 Galveston (Cat 4)
    • 1919 Corpus Christi (Cat 4)
    • 1961 Carla (Cat 4)
    • 1983 Alicia (Cat 3)
    • 2008 Ike (Cat 2, massive surge)
    • 2017 Harvey (Cat 4, catastrophic flooding)
1900 Galveston Hurricane Still Deadliest Ever

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane (September 8, 1900) remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Estimated deaths range from 6,000 to 12,000. But the most widely cited figure is 8,000. Roughly one-third of Galveston’s population perished, thousands of homes were destroyed, and the disaster reshaped how the U.S. approached hurricane forecasting and preparedness.

By contrast, Hurricane Harvey in 2017 killed 68 people statewide and 36 in Harris County. You can attribute the improvement (reduction) to better forecasting and infrastructure.

For more information about Texas hurricanes (including tropical storms) going back to the 1500s, see Texas Hurricane History by David Roth of the National Weather Service.

For more interesting Hurricane records, see this post.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/27/2025 with research assistance from ChatGPT

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