Every Hurricane, Typhoon and Cyclone Since 1851, Mapped

Every tropical storm on Earth since 1851 — 6,933 of them — on one map, from NOAA's global storm archive. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm; the name depends only on the ocean. For almost a century only the Atlantic has measured winds. The West Pacific's records begin in 1945, the southern oceans' in the 1950s and 60s, the North Indian Ocean's in 1972 — you can watch each ocean light up. CHAPTERS 0:00 1851: only the Atlantic is watched 5:05 1944: aircraft fly into storms 7:09 1959: Typhoon Vera hits Japan 8:20 1966: weather satellites arrive 9:26 1970: the Bhola cyclone 11:34 1979: Typhoon Tip, the record low 14:53 1991: the Bangladesh cyclone 19:32 2005: Hurricane Katrina 21:53 2013: Typhoon Haiyan 22:35 2015: Hurricane Patricia 26:18 2025: Hurricane Melissa What the map shows. Each line is a storm of 63 km/h or more; its colour is its strength at that moment on the 1-to-5 hurricane scale. 3,759 of them reached hurricane strength. A dot on a coast marks one of 4,169 landfalls. Cards show the deadliest and strongest storms; photo rings show what they left behind. A note on the numbers. Winds are the 1-minute winds of the U.S. agencies (NHC, CPHC, JTWC) where they exist; where an agency reports only 10-minute winds, they are divided by 0.88. The 1970 Bhola cyclone has no wind measurement in any record and is drawn grey. Deaths and damage come from the sources below, not from the track data. Before weather satellites, many storms far from land were never recorded. SOURCES Storm tracks: NOAA NCEI, International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) v04r01 Deaths and damage: NOAA National Hurricane Center (Tropical Cyclone Reports), WMO, JTWC, Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, India Meteorological Department (Mausam), Government of Myanmar (PONREPP), Fiji PDNA (GFDRR), NDRRMC Philippines, Mozambique PDNA (UNDP), Oxfam, Meteorological Society of Japan, NOAA AOML Facts on screen: NOAA AOML Hurricane FAQ, NOAA NHC, NOAA NESDIS, WMO Map: Natural Earth IMAGE CREDIT (Wikimedia Commons) 1959 Typhoon Vera flood 01: JGSDF 10th Division (陸上自衛隊第10師団) - CC BY 4.0 1959 Typhoon Vera flood 02: JGSDF 10th Division (陸上自衛隊第10師団) - CC BY 4.0 Cyclone Nargis (10690721524): Neryl Lewis, RRT / AusAID - CC BY 2.0 Rangoon après le cyclone Nargis: Benoit Gatel - CC BY 3.0 Cyclone Nargis (10690891493): Neryl Lewis, RRT / AusAID - CC BY 2.0 Aerial view of Tacloban after Typhoon Haiyan: Russell Watkins / UK DFID - CC BY 2.0 Tacloban Typhoon Haiyan 2013-11-14: Eoghan Rice, Trócaire / Caritas - CC BY 2.0 A man stands surrounded by the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in the city of Tacloban (11290380063): UK DFID - CC BY 2.0 Fallen trees at El Yunque (37123540773): Mark Davis, USFWS - CC BY 2.0 Houses-after-tracy: Billbeee - CC BY-SA 3.0 Hmas-attack: Billbeee - CC BY 2.5 1979年台風20号(2): Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) - PDL 1.0 (CC BY 4.0 compatible) 1979年台風20号(1): Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) - PDL 1.0 (CC BY 4.0 compatible) Corp2303 (27625260853): Cdr. Richard Behn, NOAA Corps (NOAA Photo Library) - CC BY 2.0 Damage from Hurricane Patricia 2015 in Colima, Mexico: Presidencia de la República Mexicana - CC BY 2.0 Visita de supervisión por Huracán Patricia a Colima. (21937309003): Presidencia de la República Mexicana - CC BY 2.0 School destroyed by Cyclone Winston in Tailevu, Fiji: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - CC BY 2.0 Cyclone Winston damage in Tailevu, Fiji: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - CC BY 2.0 i---i (28338300412): Ausgrid photos - CC BY 2.0 Destroyed houses in Beira, Mozambique (9409): Rein Skullerud/WFP - CC BY 2.0 Flooding aftermath of Cyclone Idai, Mozambique (9410): World Vision/DFID - CC BY 2.0 Ciclone Mozambico (33644516238): Dipartimento Protezione Civile - CC BY 2.0 New-Orleans post Katrina Sept 2005- Katrina's boat on road: Gilbert Mercier - CC BY 4.0 Other photos: public domain (NOAA, NASA, FEMA, U.S. armed forces, U.S. government agencies, Library of Congress). Which of these storms do you remember?