For safety and yacht insurance reasons the hurricane seasons tend to guide when you go cruising in certain locations. This article is going to quickly and concisely outline when the main hurricane seasons are for some of the most popular cruising destinations in the world.
Hurricane, Cyclone or Typhoon?
Before we jump into it, a little note on regional specific terms. Depending on location these rotating storms go by different names.
Hurricanes form in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific and Northeastern Pacific
Typhoons form in the Northwest Pacific
Cyclones form in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean
Now onto the hurricane seasons!
Northern Hurricane Season
The northern hurricane season impacts northern cruising grounds including the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and North Pacific. For most places it officially takes place between June 1 and November 30 each year as that's considered the peak period for storms to develop. Hurricanes can form outside this date range but many yacht insurers cite June 1 to November 30 in their policies as an exclusionary period, either for all coverage or coverage in the event of a named storm.
The impacted area of the northern hurricane season is often considered to be between 10°N and 37°N, which is roughly marked on the hurricane path map below.
Worldwide tropical cyclones 1985-2005.
As you can see it includes the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific and northern Indian Ocean. Check out this blog for some suggestions on where you can safely haul out in the Caribbean during this time.
The northern Indian Ocean doesn't have official cyclone season but it is impacted at roughly the same time of year as the official season, peaking between May and November.
One cruising ground within those latitudes that's almost always covered by insurance companies during the June 1 to November 30 period is the Mediterranean Sea and other European waters. This is because tropical hurricanes don't form in the Mediterranean and the best sailing weather there is usually between April and September.
Southern Hurricane Season
The southern hurricane season, also known as the cyclone season, impacts cruising grounds south of the equator including the South Pacific, Northern Australia and Southern Indian Ocean. The exact dates for the southern hurricane season can vary slightly depending on the cruising grounds, but many yacht insurance companies cite November 1 to May 1 as being the period where coverage can be limited.
The main band where cyclones tend to form is between 10°S and 30°S, which is marked on the global hurricane map below.
Worldwide tropical cyclones 1985-2005.
As you can see it includes the South Pacific, Northern Australia and Southern Indian Ocean, encompassing countries like French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Official Sources
For more information on hurricanes you can check out these official sources.
On the NOAA website you can look up historical hurricane tracks for countries across the world.
The NOAA website also provides hurricane forecasting and tracking for the Atlantic and Pacific.
The World Meteorological Organization complies current data from 20+ government meteorological agencies including from Australia, Japan, China and the United States.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency website can be useful for the western Pacific.
