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Subject: E20) When are the major hurricanes likely to strike
different states?
Contributed by Chris Landsea
This table shows the incidence
of major hurricanes by months for the U.S. mainland and individual
states. September has as many major hurricane landfalls as October
and August combined. Texas and Louisiana are the prime targets for
pre-August major hurricanes. The threat of major hurricanes increases
from west to east during August with major hurricanes favoring the
U.S. East Coast by late September. Most major October hurricanes
occur in southern Florida (from Blake et al. 2005).
Major hurricane direct hits on the U.S. mainland and individual states
1851-2006
| AREA | JUNE | JULY | AUG. | SEPT. | OCT. | ALL |
U.S. Coastline
(Texas to Maine) | 2 | 4 | 26 | 43 | 17 | 92 |
| Texas | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 19 |
| (North) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| (Central) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| (South) | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Louisiana | 2 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 20 |
| Mississippi | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Alabama | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| Florida | 0 | 2 | 6 | 19 | 10 | 37 |
| | (Northwest) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 13 |
| | (Northeast) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| (Southwest) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| | (Southeast) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 15 |
| Georgia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| South Carolina | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| North Carolina | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 12 |
| Virginia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Maryland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Delaware | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pennsylvania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| Connecticut | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Massachusetts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: State totals do not equal U.S. totals.
Texas and Florida totals do not necessarily equal the sum of
sectional entries.
Florida and Texas regional definitions are found in Appendix A.
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