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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Cocoa Beach, FL

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

83 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Cocoa Beach, Florida since 1851, 26 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Milton in 2024. Since 1950, 127 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
26

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
57

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
127

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
5

36 deaths in all

What the records show for Cocoa Beach

The strongest storm to pass near Cocoa Beach was an unnamed storm in 1854, a Category 3 hurricane with 127 mph winds when its centre passed 69 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was David in 1979, whose centre came within 1 mile. The record near Cocoa Beach begins with an unnamed storm in 1852; the most recent system was Milton in 2024, a Category 1 hurricane 7 miles away. Of the 83 systems, 15 have come since 2000. Cocoa Beach has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 53% of the 407 Florida cities on this site. The strongest of the 127 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on April 4, 1966; its path came within 8 miles, and it killed 11 people. The deadliest, an F3 on February 22, 1998, killed 25 people. Of the 127, 15 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 42 have come since 2000. August has had the most tornadoes, 22. The most recent tornado was on September 7, 2025. Cocoa Beach has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 54% of the 407 Florida cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 64 times since 1970, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Cocoa Beach has more hail reports within 10 miles than 73% of the 407 Florida cities.

Compare Cocoa Beach's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Cocoa Beach

Map of the 83 tropical storm and hurricane tracks that passed within 75 miles of Cocoa Beach, Florida, coloured by strength along each track; labelled: unnamed 1854, Matthew 2016, unnamed 1893.

Of the 83 tracks on the map, 30 were moving northeast as they passed Cocoa Beach, 22 northwest and 20 north. The unnamed 1854 storm, the strongest pass, was heading northwest; its centre passed 69 miles northeast of Cocoa Beach. Within 75 miles of Cocoa Beach, 10 of the 83 came ashore, 5 of them as hurricanes. In the last 30 seasons (1996–2025), 16 came near Cocoa Beach: 5.3 a decade, against 4.6 a decade from 1851 to 1995.

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Cocoa Beach, Florida, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2024MiltonOct 107 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 5
2022NicoleNov 1041 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 1
2022IanSep 292 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 5
2022AlexJun 474 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2020IsaiasAug 353 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
2016MatthewOct 733 miCategory 3 (123 mph)Category 5
2016JuliaSep 1314 miTropical storm (43 mph)Tropical storm
2008FayAug 20overheadTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
2006ErnestoAug 312 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 1
2005TammyOct 521 miTropical storm (47 mph)Tropical storm
2005OpheliaSep 864 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
2004JeanneSep 2664 miCategory 2 (99 mph)Category 3
2004FrancesSep 561 miCategory 1 (85 mph)Category 4
2004CharleyAug 1451 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 4
2001GabrielleSep 1524 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1999IreneOct 1638 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 2
1995JerryAug 2451 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1995ErinAug 234 miCategory 1 (77 mph)Category 2
1994GordonNov 1640 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 1
1988KeithNov 232 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 1
1988ChrisAug 2834 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1985BobJul 2413 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1984IsidoreSep 2758 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
1984DianaSep 958 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 4
1983BarryAug 2554 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1981DennisAug 1815 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1979DavidSep 41 miCategory 2 (98 mph)Category 5
1976DottieAug 2037 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1974Unnamed 1974 stormOct 739 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1969GerdaSep 849 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 3
1968DollyAug 102 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1968BrendaJun 1931 miTropical storm (39 mph)Category 1
1968AbbyJun 59 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 1
1964CleoAug 2815 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 4
1962AlmaAug 2765 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1960FlorenceSep 2454 miTropical storm (51 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1160 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 4
1959Unnamed 1959 stormJun 1839 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1956Unnamed 1956 stormOct 165 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1954Unnamed 1954 stormJun 2071 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1953HazelOct 942 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 1
1953Unnamed 1953 stormJul 1253 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1951HowOct 258 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 2
1950KingOct 1847 miCategory 1 (84 mph)Category 4
1950EasySep 669 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1945Unnamed 1945 stormSep 1667 miCategory 1 (81 mph)Category 4
1939Unnamed 1939 stormAug 1259 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 1
1937Unnamed 1937 stormAug 3044 miTropical storm (67 mph)Tropical storm
1937Unnamed 1937 stormJul 3073 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1936Unnamed 1936 stormAug 2130 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1933Unnamed 1933 stormSep 468 miCategory 1 (91 mph)Category 4
1928Unnamed 1928 stormAug 834 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1926Unnamed 1926 stormJul 2812 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 4
1925Unnamed 1925 stormDec 113 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 1
1921Unnamed 1921 stormOct 2652 miCategory 1 (81 mph)Category 4
1921Unnamed 1921 stormOct 166 miTropical storm (39 mph)Category 1
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 115 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 1
1909Unnamed 1909 stormJun 2966 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1906Unnamed 1906 stormOct 2171 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 3
1899Unnamed 1899 stormOct 568 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2140 miTropical storm (49 mph)Tropical storm
1896Unnamed 1896 stormOct 952 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1894Unnamed 1894 stormSep 2656 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormOct 1240 miCategory 3 (121 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2736 miCategory 3 (121 mph)Category 3
1892Unnamed 1892 stormOct 2518 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
1891Unnamed 1891 stormOct 768 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1889Unnamed 1889 stormOct 656 miTropical storm (48 mph)Tropical storm
1887Unnamed 1887 stormOct 3065 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 1
1885Unnamed 1885 stormAug 2418 miCategory 1 (93 mph)Category 2
1880Unnamed 1880 stormAug 298 miCategory 2 (101 mph)Category 2
1876Unnamed 1876 stormOct 2036 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 3
1873Unnamed 1873 stormOct 724 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 3
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2335 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1871Unnamed 1871 stormAug 2529 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 3
1871Unnamed 1871 stormAug 1754 miCategory 1 (87 mph)Category 3
1870Unnamed 1870 stormOct 2160 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 2
1861Unnamed 1861 stormNov 14 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 1
1859Unnamed 1859 stormOct 2818 miCategory 1 (85 mph)Category 1
1858Unnamed 1858 stormSep 1437 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1854Unnamed 1854 stormSep 769 miCategory 3 (127 mph)Category 3
1853Unnamed 1853 stormOct 1973 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 2
1852Unnamed 1852 stormSep 129 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Cocoa Beach: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Check hail and hurricane history for any address

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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Cocoa Beach

By decade

  • 2020s7
  • 2010s17
  • 2000s18
  • 1990s30(1 EF3+)
  • 1980s17
  • 1970s21(3 EF3+)
  • 1960s13(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s4
Strongest tornadoes near Cocoa Beach, Florida
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Apr 4, 1966F48 mi135.8 mi11 / 530
Feb 22, 1998F321 mi28 mi25 / 150
Jun 19, 1972F311 mi3.8 mi0 / 23
Jun 19, 1972F35 mi4.9 mi0 / 0
Mar 5, 1970F323 mi1.9 mi0 / 7
Oct 24, 2005F221 mi0.3 mi0 / 0
Mar 24, 1983F27 mi18 mi0 / 0
Mar 7, 1983F211 mi5 mi0 / 0
Sep 3, 1979F218 mi2 mi0 / 0
Jul 9, 1979F2in town0.5 mi0 / 6
Jan 28, 1973F214 mi5.1 mi0 / 0
Jun 18, 1972F223 mi2 mi0 / 11

The strongest 12 of 127, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Cocoa Beach

The Storm Prediction Center has 64 hail reports within 10 miles of Cocoa Beach since 1970, made on 42 separate days. Of these, 33 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on April 29, 2023. The most recent report is from January 19, 2025. March has the most reports, 17.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Radar-estimated hail days in Cocoa Beach since 2019 →

Weather by month in Cocoa Beach

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Melbourne WFO, FL, 15 miles south of Cocoa Beach at 35 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 72°F and 51°F. September is the wettest at 8.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.3 inches; the year adds up to 55.3 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 69% of the year's precipitation (38.3 of 55.3 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 83 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (25); a normal October there has highs of 84°F and 5.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 76 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 55.3 inches is more than at 70 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (56%). Cape Canaveral, 4 miles north, has its own station (Titusville 7 E, FL): 48.7 inches a year, 6.6 less than here, and an August average high of 89°F against 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Trident Pier, Port Canaveral, FL, 6 miles north, averaged 87°F in September and 69°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Port Canaveral tide gauge, 6 miles from Cocoa Beach, has risen 2.52 ± 0.26 inches per decade from 1994 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 25.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 137 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Melbourne WFO, FL
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Water °F
Jan72512.8569
Feb75532.3471
Mar78562.9475
Apr82612.5479
May86673.8683
Jun89727.51085
Jul91736.81087
Aug91737.51186
Sep89738.61087
Oct84685.3783
Nov79602.6477
Dec74542.7472
Year826355.37979

Averages for 1991–2020 at Melbourne WFO, FL (35 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Trident Pier, Port Canaveral, FL, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Florida weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Cocoa Beach

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 125 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Cocoa Beach: 109 thunderstorm wind reports, 9 lightning strikes, 5 heavy rain events and 2 flash floods. They killed 4 people and injured 13, and the NWS estimated $6.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on October 21, 2002.

  • June 4, 2025: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Cocoa Beach — 2 killed.

  • July 28, 2017: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Cocoa Beach — 1 killed, 1 injured.

  • April 16, 2023: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Cocoa Beach — 1 killed, 1 injured.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings

Flood insurance policyholders in Cocoa Beach's ZIP code 32931 have filed 434 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Tropical Storm Fay in 2008: 74 claims (17% of all) and $158,000, then Hurricane Frances in 2004 with 70 and Flooding in 1984 with 43. The year with the most claims was 2004, with 97. 75% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 340 Florida cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 195 have fewer than Cocoa Beach.

Flood insurance claims in Cocoa Beach by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Tropical Storm Fay200874$158,000
Hurricane Frances200470$212,000
Flooding198443$85,000
Hurricane Irma201734$912,000
Hurricane Jeanne200424$204,000
Hurricane Matthew201621$163,000

Brevard County, which includes Cocoa Beach, has been named in 45 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 26 of them major disasters (by incident: 24 hurricanes, 6 fires, 4 severe storms, 4 tropical storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Milton, on October 11, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Brevard County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for hurricanes and lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for coastal flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $389.3 million a year, the 8th highest of 67 Florida counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $281.5 million (72%), is from hurricanes.

Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Cocoa Beach