Three hurricanes since 2015 put hurricane-force wind over the Virgin Islands. Here each one crosses on its real track with the wind field the National Hurricane Center estimated for it, and the hours every island spent under it: play the film, then read the numbers island by island.
Of every major hurricane since 2015, Irma, Maria and Dorian are the ones whose hurricane-force wind reached the Virgin Islands. Each plays on its NHC track with its wind field: 34 kt (tropical-storm force), 50 kt and 64 kt (hurricane force), drawn quadrant by quadrant.
By the National Hurricane Center's best-track wind radii, three storms since 2015 put hurricane-force wind (64 knots, 74 mph) over part of the Virgin Islands. In Irma on September 6, 2017, Virgin Gorda, Tortola and Anegada lay inside that wind for 6.7 hours each, St. John 6.1, Jost Van Dyke 6.4 and St. Thomas 5.3. In Maria, two weeks later, St. Croix had 8.2 hours, St. Thomas 5.1 and St. John 3.0. Dorian, a category 1 at the islands on August 28, 2019, gave St. Thomas 1.2 hours and St. John 0.9.
These hours are not wind measured on the ground. A radius is NHC’s estimate of the farthest reach of that sustained wind in each quarter of the storm, re-analysed after the season. An island counts as “under” it while any of its coastline lies inside. A sheltered bay can have felt far less, a ridge more.
The three storms added up, island by island, with each storm’s share of the hurricane-force hours.
| Island | Hours ≥34 kt | Hours ≥50 kt | Hours ≥64 kt | Irma ≥64 kt | Maria ≥64 kt | Dorian ≥64 kt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas | 47.1 | 26.3 | 11.6 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 1.2 |
| St. John | 44.9 | 23.8 | 10.0 | 6.1 | 3.0 | 0.9 |
| St. Croix | 43.7 | 23.6 | 8.2 | – | 8.2 | – |
| Tortola | 44.2 | 22.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | – | – |
| Virgin Gorda | 44.1 | 18.5 | 6.7 | 6.7 | – | – |
| Anegada | 42.7 | 12.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | – | – |
| Jost Van Dyke | 43.5 | 22.1 | 6.4 | 6.4 | – | – |
| Storm | Date (AST) | Centre at its closest | Strength at the islands | Peak in its life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irma AL112017 | September 6, 2017 | over Virgin Gorda | 155 kt (178 mph), category 5 hurricane | 155 kt, category 5 hurricane (September 5, 2017) |
| Maria AL152017 | September 20, 2017 | 11 nm from St. Croix | 142 kt (163 mph), category 5 hurricane | 150 kt, category 5 hurricane (September 19, 2017) |
| Dorian AL052019 | August 28, 2019 | over St. Croix | 65 kt (75 mph), category 1 hurricane | 160 kt, category 5 hurricane (September 1, 2019) |
NHC's report: Irma made its third landfall on Virgin Gorda at 1630 UTC (12:30 PM AST) on September 6, 2017 as a 155-kt category 5 hurricane. The table is the time each island spent inside its radii as the storm moved.
| Island | Hours ≥34 kt | Hours ≥50 kt | Hours ≥64 kt | Hurricane-force wind, first → last (AST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas | 19.1 | 9.9 | 5.3 | Sep 6, 12:18 PM → Sep 6, 5:36 PM |
| St. John | 18.9 | 9.7 | 6.1 | Sep 6, 10:24 AM → Sep 6, 4:54 PM |
| St. Croix | 14.7 | 6.0 | – | – |
| Tortola | 19.1 | 10.0 | 6.7 | Sep 6, 10:00 AM → Sep 6, 4:42 PM |
| Virgin Gorda | 19.0 | 10.0 | 6.7 | Sep 6, 9:18 AM → Sep 6, 4:00 PM |
| Jost Van Dyke | 18.7 | 9.6 | 6.4 | Sep 6, 10:42 AM → Sep 6, 5:06 PM |
| Anegada | 19.2 | 10.0 | 6.7 | Sep 6, 9:30 AM → Sep 6, 4:12 PM |
NHC's report: Maria reached its peak, 150 kt and 908 mb, around 0300 UTC on September 20 (11 PM AST on the 19th) about 25 nm south of St. Croix, then crossed Puerto Rico near Yabucoa at 1015 UTC as a 135-kt category 4. In this computation its centre came within 10.5 nm of St. Croix's coast.
| Island | Hours ≥34 kt | Hours ≥50 kt | Hours ≥64 kt | Hurricane-force wind, first → last (AST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas | 20.6 | 13.0 | 5.1 | Sep 20, 12:48 AM → Sep 20, 5:51 AM |
| St. John | 19.4 | 11.8 | 3.0 | Sep 20, 1:00 AM → Sep 20, 3:58 AM |
| St. Croix | 22.4 | 15.6 | 8.2 | Sep 19, 8:54 PM → Sep 20, 5:03 AM |
| Tortola | 19.1 | 10.6 | – | – |
| Virgin Gorda | 19.3 | 8.5 | – | – |
| Jost Van Dyke | 18.6 | 10.5 | – | – |
| Anegada | 17.0 | 2.0 | – | – |
NHC's report: Dorian became a 65-kt hurricane as its centre moved over the eastern tip of St. Croix around 1530 UTC (11:30 AM AST) on August 28, 2019, then crossed the western tip of St. Thomas with 70-kt winds at 1800 UTC (2 PM AST). A category 1 at the islands: it reached major strength on August 30, 2019 and its 160-kt peak over the Abacos on September 1. Its hurricane-force wind was a small core: at the islands NHC's 64-kt radius reached 10 to 15 nm, and only in the northeast quadrant. So St. Croix, under the centre itself, counts no 64-kt hours: the radius pointed away from it, and Christiansted measured 30 kt.
| Island | Hours ≥34 kt | Hours ≥50 kt | Hours ≥64 kt | Hurricane-force wind, first → last (AST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas | 7.4 | 3.4 | 1.2 | Aug 28, 12:48 PM → Aug 28, 2:00 PM |
| St. John | 6.6 | 2.3 | 0.9 | Aug 28, 12:54 PM → Aug 28, 1:48 PM |
| St. Croix | 6.6 | 2.0 | – | – |
| Tortola | 6.0 | 2.1 | – | – |
| Virgin Gorda | 5.8 | – | – | – |
| Jost Van Dyke | 6.2 | 2.0 | – | – |
| Anegada | 6.5 | – | – | – |
From the station tables of NHC’s three Tropical Cyclone Reports, times converted to AST. They are the check on the radii: most agree with which side of the 64-kt radius an island fell; one shows what a radius is not.
| Storm | Station | Measured (peak sustained, gust) | When (AST) | Against the radii |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irma | Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas (NOS CHAV3) | 55 kt sustained, gust 85 kt | Sep 6, 1:36 PM | Inside the 64-kt radius 5.3 h. The gauge went offline during the storm (TCR). |
| Irma | Christiansted Harbor, St. Croix (NOS CHSV3) | 33 kt sustained, gust 50 kt | Sep 6, 12:42 PM | St. Croix inside the 50-kt radius 6.0 h, never inside the 64-kt radius: the reading agrees. |
| Maria | Sandy Point NWR, St. Croix (WeatherFlow XCRX) | 93 kt sustained, gust 119 kt | Sep 20, 2:18 AM | St. Croix inside the 64-kt radius 8.2 h: the reading agrees. |
| Maria | Lime Tree Bay, St. Croix (NOS LTBV3) | 60 kt sustained, gust 89 kt (record incomplete) | Sep 19, 11:30 PM | Record incomplete (TCR flag f): the sensor may have missed the peak. |
| Maria | Rupert Rock, St. Thomas (WeatherFlow XRUP) | 39 kt sustained, gust 56 kt (record incomplete) | Sep 19, 10:01 PM | St. Thomas inside the 64-kt radius 5.1 h, yet this sensor logged 39 kt before it stopped. A radius is the farthest reach of that wind in a quadrant, not the wind at every point inside it. |
| Dorian | Buck Island, off St. Thomas (WeatherFlow XBUK) | 71 kt sustained, gust 96 kt | Aug 28, 1:20 PM | St. Thomas inside the 64-kt radius 1.2 h. NHC: these winds "could have been somewhat enhanced by topography". |
| Dorian | Two Brothers, Pillsbury Sound (WeatherFlow XBRO) | 51 kt sustained, gust 65 kt | Aug 28, 1:53 PM | St. John inside the 64-kt radius 0.9 h. |
| Dorian | Christiansted Harbor, St. Croix (NOS CHSV3) | 30 kt sustained, gust 38 kt | Aug 28, 11:00 AM | Dorian's centre crossed St. Croix's east end around then, but its 64-kt radius reached only into the northeast quadrant, away from St. Croix: no 64-kt hours there. |
Every Atlantic storm since 2015 that reached category 3 at any point in its life (43 of them) was checked for how close its centre came to the islands. 5 came within 50 nautical miles of a coast. The film plays the 3 whose hurricane-force radius reached an island; the other 2 were far weaker here than at their peak.
| Storm | Centre at its closest | Strength then | Most hours ≥34 kt on one island | Why not in the film |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laura 2020 | 10 nm from St. Croix | 42 kt, tropical storm | 12.9 | its 64-kt radius never reached an island: 42 kt, a tropical storm, at its closest; a major hurricane only later, far from the islands |
| Grace 2021 | 50 nm from St. Croix | 30 kt, tropical depression | – | its 64-kt radius never reached an island: 30 kt, a depression, at its closest; a major hurricane only later, far from the islands |
| Storm | Peak | Centre at its closest | Wind then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiona 2022 | 120 kt | 57 nm from St. Croix | 54 kt |
| Erin 2025 | 140 kt | 71 nm from Anegada | 131 kt |
| Jose 2017 | 135 kt | 82 nm from Anegada | 115 kt |
| Beryl 2024 | 145 kt | 210 nm from St. Croix | 145 kt |
| Franklin 2023 | 130 kt | 213 nm from St. Croix | 39 kt |
| Danny 2015 | 110 kt | 221 nm from St. Croix | 30 kt |
| Lee 2023 | 145 kt | 251 nm from Anegada | 105 kt |
Every other major since 2015 stayed more than 300 nm away. Wind-radii hours for these storms are not shown here: their centres stayed outside 50 nm.
The 2026 season is not yet in HURDAT2; NHC adds it the following spring. Read from NHC’s operational best-track files (ATCF b-decks), none of its 9 named storms so far has reached category 3. The only one to come near the islands was Dolly, whose centre passed about 28 nm away at 30 kt, a tropical depression then (its peak was 35 kt).
| Storm | Peak (b-deck) | Closest to the islands |
|---|---|---|
| Arthur | 40 kt | 1,757 nm |
| Bertha | 50 kt | 1,114 nm |
| Cristobal | 40 kt | 1,061 nm |
| Dolly | 35 kt | 28 nm |
| Edouard | 50 kt | 1,368 nm |
| Fay | 60 kt | 977 nm |
| Gonzalo | 45 kt | 2,328 nm |
| Hanna | 40 kt | 622 nm |
| Isaias | 85 kt | 1,380 nm |
By NHC's best-track wind radii, hurricane-force wind (64 kt, 74 mph) lay over part of Virgin Gorda, Tortola and Anegada for 6.7 hours on September 6, 2017, roughly Sep 6, 9:18 AM to Sep 6, 4:00 PM AST at Virgin Gorda; St. John 6.1, Jost Van Dyke 6.4, St. Thomas 5.3. St. Croix stayed outside the 64-kt radius; the 50-kt radius covered it for 6.0 hours.
8.2 hours by the best-track radii, from about Sep 19, 8:54 PM to Sep 20, 5:03 AM AST on September 19–20, 2017. NHC put Maria's peak, 150 kt, about 25 nm south of St. Croix at 11 PM AST on the 19th; a WeatherFlow sensor at Sandy Point measured 93 kt sustained with a gust to 119 kt.
No. NHC's best track has Dorian at 65 kt, a category 1, as its centre crossed the east end of St. Croix around 11:30 AM AST on August 28, 2019, and 70 kt as it crossed the west tip of St. Thomas at 2 PM. It became a major hurricane on August 30, 2019, about 490 nm northwest of St. Thomas, and peaked at 160 kt over the Abacos on September 1. Its 64-kt radius covered St. Thomas for 1.2 hours and St. John for 0.9.
St. Thomas: 11.6 hours over the three storms, by the best-track radii. St. John 10.0 h, St. Croix 8.2 h, Tortola 6.7 h, Virgin Gorda 6.7 h, Anegada 6.7 h, Jost Van Dyke 6.4 h.
Irma and Maria, both in September 2017, were major hurricanes at the islands: Irma a category 5 over Virgin Gorda, Maria a category 5 off St. Croix. Of every storm since 2015 that reached category 3 somewhere in its life, 5 passed within 50 nm of an island; Dorian (2019) was a category 1 here, Laura (2020) a tropical storm and Grace (2021) a depression. None of the 9 named storms of 2026 so far has been a major hurricane.
No. A wind radius is NHC's post-season estimate of the farthest extent of that sustained wind speed in each quadrant of the storm. An island inside the 64-kt radius was within the area where hurricane-force sustained wind is estimated to have occurred somewhere, not necessarily at every point. Terrain, exposure and the quadrant shapes change what any one place felt; the station readings on this page show how much.
Tracks and radii. Every row of NHC's HURDAT2 Atlantic best track (hurdat2.txt: 1,988 storms, 55,524 rows, 1851–2025) was read. Since 2004 each row carries the 34, 50 and 64-kt wind radii by quadrant (NE, SE, SW, NW): the farthest distance from the centre at which NHC estimates that sustained wind occurred in that quarter of the storm.
Which storms. Every storm from 2015 that reached category 3 (96 kt) at any point in its life (43 storms) was checked for its closest approach to the islands. 5 came within 50 nm of a coast; the film plays the 3 whose 64-kt radius reached an island. The 2026 season is not yet in HURDAT2, so its storms were read from NHC's operational ATCF b-decks.
Wind hours. Position, wind and each of the twelve radii are interpolated in a straight line between rows every 6 minutes. At each step an island counts as inside a threshold when any point of its coastline lies within the radius of the quadrant it falls in, by great-circle distance and bearing from the centre. Hours are the sum of those steps. The coastlines are the seven main islands at about 9 m detail (U.S. Census TIGER 2023 for the USVI, OpenStreetMap for the BVI); Water Island and the cays are not counted.
Checks. Irma's centre crosses Virgin Gorda in this computation at the report's landfall time; Maria's closest approach to St. Croix matches the 12 statute miles on our hurricanes map, computed separately; a second computation of Irma and Maria with each quadrant as a polygon intersected with each island gave the same hurricane-force hours to the tenth, and a 3-minute step moved no figure by more than 0.1 h. The station readings above agree with which side of each radius the islands fell, with the exception they show.