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Storms That Hit

NHC AL092024 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Helene (2024)

September 23, 2024 – September 28, 2024

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

Hurricane Helene peaked at Category 4 with 138 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 748 US cities, 131 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and NWS reports for Helene →

Helene in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Helene for 5 days, from September 23, 2024 to September 28, 2024. Its first position, at 17.2°N 81.7°W, records it as a disturbance; its last, at 37.1°N 87.0°W, as a low. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 23, hurricane strength on September 25 and major-hurricane strength on September 26. Its peak was 138 mph (120 knots), Category 4, on September 27, and its lowest central pressure was 939 millibars on September 27. It spent about 42 hours at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 27 at 138 mph (Category 4), 4 miles from Perry, FL. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 748 US cities, in 9 states, most in Georgia (273) and Kentucky (141), between September 27 and September 28. The strongest pass was 138 mph (Category 4) 38 miles from Panacea, FL; the centre came closest to Irvington, KY, less than a mile away. 131 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 41 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 85% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 2024 on this site.

Peak strength
Category 4

138 mph

Cities within 75 mi
748
At hurricane strength
131

when closest

States
9
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Cities Helene passed near, strongest first

Florida (33)

Georgia (273)

and 213 more

South Carolina (54)

North Carolina (36)

Tennessee (130)

and 70 more

Kentucky (141)

and 81 more

Virginia (2)

Indiana (74)

and 14 more

Illinois (5)

Other storms of the 2024 season

  • BerylCategory 5 · 159 cities
  • DebbyCategory 1 · 382 cities
  • ErnestoCategory 2 · 64 cities
  • HoneCategory 1 · 3 cities
  • FrancineCategory 2 · 152 cities
  • MiltonCategory 5 · 177 cities

All hurricanes and tropical storms →

About this record

The track is the National Hurricane Center's best-track record, revised after the season with every observation available. Strength at a city is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, not the wind that city measured.