Using the map
How to read hurricane tracks
A historical track connects a cyclone's recorded center positions through time. On this map, you can replay that journey and inspect the measurements behind it.
Start with a year and a date
Use the year selector to choose an archive year. The date control moves to a particular day, while the timeline lets you scrub through the year. Times follow the display settings, and the archive records them in UTC. Open the storm explorer to switch between storms active at the chosen moment and the year's full archive.
Select a storm and follow its life
Select a map marker or a storm in the list to open its profile. The wind chart shows available US-agency one-minute winds; selecting a point on the chart changes the map's time. Replay follows the system through the available record. The date and profile measurements should always be read together.
Read the colors and the shaded wind extent
Track color records intensity using the category legend. The fixed-size center marker locates the cyclone; it does not measure the storm's physical size.
Where the source includes quadrant wind radii, shaded sectors show reported 34-knot wind extent. They are not satellite cloud outlines, exact wind contours, or a forecast cone. Missing quadrants remain unshaded, and older tracks often have no radius measurements. Selecting a storm adds a faint footprint of its recorded extents along the track up to the timeline time. Rewinding removes later reports; All years shows the full recorded footprint. This footprint combines individual reports without filling gaps between them. Toggle it with Recorded wind extents in the map's Settings menu.
Understand the space between observations
Playback smoothly interpolates center positions while holding wind and pressure at the preceding archive value. It does not invent new measurements and does not bridge gaps longer than 12 hours. IBTrACS also includes interpolated positions; point-level source flags remain in the downloadable data.
A historical path is different from a forecast
The map shows positions already entered into the archive. The NHC forecast cone describes uncertainty in the future track of the storm's center; hazardous conditions can extend beyond it. Read the NHC's explanation of its forecast cone.
For a selected active storm, the map can also show the official forecast: the NHC/CPHC forecast track and cone for the Atlantic and eastern/central Pacific, or the JTWC forecast track and 34 kt danger area elsewhere. It is reproduced as published, credited with its issue time and advisory number, shown only at the latest time and removed when it expires. Hurricanes Mapped does not make or interpret forecasts; follow the agency link for the real one.