Every hurricane that passed within 100 nautical miles of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, from the best-track record the National Hurricane Center keeps: 68 storms, 30 of them category 3 or stronger as they passed. Press play to watch them come in the order they came; the storms that changed the islands get their story.
With 155-knot winds, Irma was the strongest storm in the record to reach the islands. Its eye crossed the British Virgin Islands, from Virgin Gorda over Tortola, with St. John and St. Thomas in the path of the eyewall.
Since 1851, the National Hurricane Center’s best-track record shows 68 hurricanes passing within 100 nautical miles of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, about one every 2.6 years. 30 were major hurricanes, category 3 or stronger, as they passed: about one every 5.8 years. 50% came in September, and half of them arrived between August 22 and September 16.
Southwestern Gulf of America: A broad area of low pressure could form in a few days over the southwestern Gulf of America. Any development of this system is expected to be slow to occur as it drifts over the southwestern Gulf waters. Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent. Formation chance through 7 days...low...20 percent.
The storm crossed Tortola almost head-on. The Royal Mail steamer RMS Rhone, at anchor off Peter Island, ran for open sea and was driven onto Black Rock Point at Salt Island, where she broke in two and sank. Her wreck is now the best-known dive in the BVI. Three weeks later, on November 18, an earthquake and tsunami struck St. Thomas.
Replay on the map ↑A category 3 passed within 4 miles of Virgin Gorda, one of two hurricanes to reach the islands in the 1871 season.
Replay on the map ↑A category 4 as it passed 22 miles from St. Croix. It went on to cross the full length of Puerto Rico and remains one of the deadliest storms in that island's history.
Replay on the map ↑The last hurricane of the Danish West Indies passed 8 miles from Tortola. Denmark had already agreed to sell St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix to the United States, and the flag changed less than six months later, on March 31, 1917.
Replay on the map ↑A category 5 when it passed 16 miles from St. Croix. It crossed Puerto Rico the same day, and days later flooded the shores of Lake Okeechobee in Florida, where it is remembered as the Okeechobee hurricane.
Replay on the map ↑Donna's centre passed 7 miles from Anegada as a category 3. She went on to strike the Florida Keys and run up the U.S. East Coast to New England.
Replay on the map ↑Hugo's eye crossed St. Croix as a category 4. Most of the island's homes were damaged or destroyed, power was out for weeks, and federal troops were flown in to restore order. On St. Croix people still date things before and after Hugo.
Replay on the map ↑A category 4 that stayed 40 miles off Anegada. The islands were still cleaning up when the next storm arrived ten days later.
Replay on the map ↑Ten days after Luis, Marilyn's eye passed 7 miles from St. Thomas as a strong category 2. It damaged or destroyed thousands of homes on St. Thomas and St. John.
Replay on the map ↑Georges passed 2 miles from St. Croix as a category 2, then crossed the whole of Puerto Rico from east to west.
Replay on the map ↑Lenny crossed the Caribbean from west to east, which hurricanes almost never do, and was a category 4 in the middle of November when it passed 21 miles from St. Croix. Its waves battered west- and south-facing shores that usually sit in the lee.
Replay on the map ↑Another storm moving the wrong way. Omar tracked north-east out of the Caribbean and passed 23 miles from St. Croix as a category 3.
Replay on the map ↑A category 4 that passed 21 miles from Anegada, close enough to bring hurricane-force gusts and damage to the British Virgin Islands.
Replay on the map ↑With 155-knot winds, Irma was the strongest storm in the record to reach the islands. Its eye crossed the British Virgin Islands, from Virgin Gorda over Tortola, with St. John and St. Thomas in the path of the eyewall.
Replay on the map ↑Two weeks after Irma came a second category 5. Maria passed 21 miles from St. Croix, then crossed Puerto Rico. September 2017 is the only month in the record in which two category 5 storms reached the islands.
Replay on the map ↑A young category 1 when its centre passed 6 miles from St. Thomas. Days later the same storm stalled over the northern Bahamas as a category 5.
Replay on the map ↑The most recent major hurricane within 100 nautical miles: a category 4 at 83 miles north of Anegada. It had peaked at category 5 the day before.
Replay on the map ↑30 storms were category 3 or stronger as they passed within 100 nautical miles. The category is the strength at the islands, not the storm’s peak. Marilyn (1995), Georges (1998) and Dorian (2019) were category 1–2 at their closest, so they are not on this list, though Marilyn did more damage on St. Thomas than most of the storms here.
| Year | Name | Date | At the islands | Winds | Closest pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1866 | Unnamed | Sep 29 | Category 3 | 115 mph | 55 mi from Anegada |
| 1867 | San Narciso | Oct 29 | Category 3 | 116 mph | 2 mi from Tortola |
| 1871 | Unnamed | Aug 21 | Category 3 | 115 mph | 4 mi from Virgin Gorda |
| 1876 | Unnamed | Sep 13 | Category 3 | 114 mph | 19 mi from St. Croix |
| 1883 | Unnamed | Sep 5 | Category 3 | 127 mph | 114 mi from St. Croix |
| 1891 | Unnamed | Aug 19 | Category 3 | 114 mph | 84 mi from St. Croix |
| 1893 | Unnamed | Aug 16 | Category 3 | 114 mph | 12 mi from St. Croix |
| 1899 | San Ciriaco | Aug 8 | Category 4 | 144 mph | 22 mi from St. Croix |
| 1899 | Unnamed | Sep 9 | Category 3 | 121 mph | 37 mi from Anegada |
| 1922 | Unnamed | Sep 16 | Category 3 | 115 mph | 13 mi from Anegada |
| 1926 | Unnamed | Sep 15 | Category 3 | 115 mph | 88 mi from Anegada |
| 1928 | San Felipe Segundo | Sep 13 | Category 5 | 161 mph | 16 mi from St. Croix |
| 1930 | Unnamed | Sep 2 | Category 3 | 114 mph | 61 mi from St. Croix |
| 1932 | San Ciprián | Sep 27 | Category 4 | 144 mph | 17 mi from St. Croix |
| 1950 | Dog | Sep 2 | Category 3 | 116 mph | 38 mi from Anegada |
| 1955 | Connie | Aug 6 | Category 3 | 115 mph | 66 mi from Anegada |
| 1960 | Donna | Sep 5 | Category 3 | 127 mph | 7 mi from Anegada |
| 1964 | Cleo | Aug 23 | Category 4 | 144 mph | 100 mi from St. Croix |
| 1966 | Inez | Sep 28 | Category 4 | 142 mph | 77 mi from St. Croix |
| 1979 | David | Aug 30 | Category 5 | 167 mph | 103 mi from St. Croix |
| 1989 | Hugo | Sep 18 | Category 4 | 138 mph | 4 mi from St. Croix |
| 1995 | Luis | Sep 6 | Category 4 | 138 mph | 40 mi from Anegada |
| 1999 | Lenny | Nov 17 | Category 4 | 154 mph | 21 mi from St. Croix |
| 2004 | Frances | Aug 31 | Category 4 | 140 mph | 97 mi from Anegada |
| 2008 | Omar | Oct 16 | Category 3 | 121 mph | 23 mi from St. Croix |
| 2010 | Earl | Aug 30 | Category 4 | 132 mph | 21 mi from Anegada |
| 2017 | Irma | Sep 6 | Category 5 | 178 mph | 2 mi from Virgin Gorda |
| 2017 | Jose | Sep 10 | Category 4 | 132 mph | 96 mi from Anegada |
| 2017 | Maria | Sep 20 | Category 5 | 166 mph | 21 mi from St. Croix |
| 2025 | Erin | Aug 17 | Category 4 | 151 mph | 83 mi from Anegada |
Hurricanes within 100 nautical miles by month, 1851–2025. The darker part of each bar is the major hurricanes.
Since 1851, 68 hurricanes have passed within 100 nautical miles of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, about one every 2.6 years, and 30 of them were category 3 or stronger as they passed. In the satellite era (1966–2025) the count is 21 hurricanes and 12 major hurricanes in 60 seasons.
By strength at the islands, Irma (September 6, 2017): a category 5 with 155-knot winds whose eye crossed the British Virgin Islands. Maria followed two weeks later as a second category 5, 21 miles from St. Croix. Before 2017, Hugo (1989) on St. Croix and Marilyn (1995) on St. Thomas were the storms islanders measured others against.
The official Atlantic season runs June 1 to November 30. 50% of the hurricanes that reached the islands came in September, and half of them arrived between August 22 and September 16. A November hurricane is rare but not unknown: Lenny was a category 4 near St. Croix on November 17, 1999.
Four storms have passed within 100 nautical miles while at category 5: the 1928 San Felipe Segundo hurricane (16 miles from St. Croix), David in 1979 (103 miles south of St. Croix), and Irma (2 miles from Virgin Gorda) and Maria (21 miles from St. Croix), both in September 2017.
The storm's centre, as recorded every six hours in the National Hurricane Center's best track and interpolated between those fixes, came within 100 nautical miles (115 miles) of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Tortola, Virgin Gorda or Anegada at hurricane strength. Hurricane-force winds usually reach 25–50 miles from the centre, so a storm near the edge of that ring may have brought only tropical-storm conditions.
Source: NOAA National Hurricane Center, HURDAT2 Atlantic best track, 1851–2025. A storm is counted when its centre (six-hourly fixes, interpolated between them) came within 100 nautical miles of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Tortola, Virgin Gorda or Anegada at hurricane strength; the category and winds (1-minute sustained) are at that closest approach. Storm names before 1950 are the names history gave them. The 2026 season joins the record once the NHC publishes its best track.