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- On average, a hurricane makes landfall or tracks into Louisiana once every three years.
- The last to do so before Francine was Ida in 2021.
- Sometimes multiple hurricanes have hit the state within one or two years.
Louisiana’s hurricane history includes some of the most infamous of all time, sometimes clustering within one or two seasons, but also stretches of multiple years without any storms.
How often: According to NOAA’s database, 57 hurricanes have either made landfall in or have tracked over Louisiana as hurricanes from the mid-19th century through 2023. That’s an average of one such hurricane every three years.
The last to do so was Category 4 Hurricane Ida in late August 2021.
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Tracks of the 57 hurricanes that made landfall in or tracked over Louisiana as hurricanes from the 1850s through 2023.
(NOAA)
Recent busy stretches: Ida wrapped up a string of four Louisiana hurricanes in less than 12 months. That included three hurricanes – Laura, Delta and Zeta – in about two months during the frenetic 2020 season.
Among the 2005 hurricane season’s record 15 hurricanes, three made landfall in Louisiana: Cindy, Katrina then Rita.
Though not nearly as strong as the likes of Laura, Katrina or Rita, three hurricanes also tracked over Louisiana in 1985 (Danny, Elena, Juan) and 1860.
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This aerial view shows damage to a neighborhood by Hurricane Laura outside of Lake Charles, La., on Aug. 27, 2020. Hurricane Laura slammed into the southern U.S. state of Louisiana as a monster Category 4 storm prompting evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents.
(Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Recent lulls: While it sometimes seems Louisiana takes a parade of hurricane punches, as mentioned earlier, the state averages only about one hurricane every three years. So, stretches where either few hurricanes form in the Atlantic Basin or those that do form are steered elsewhere are normal, thankfully.
After 2012’s Hurricane Isaac, there wasn’t another Louisiana hurricane for five years, until 2017’s Hurricane Nate. In fact, Isaac was the only Louisiana hurricane between 2008’s Gustav and 2017’s Nate.
And following Andrew’s final Category 3 landfall in Louisiana in 1992, the next hurricane (Danny) wouldn’t arrive until almost five years later in 1997.
The most infamous hurricanes: Two of the nation’s four deadliest hurricanes – Katrina and the 1893 Cheniere Caminanda hurricane – struck Louisiana and claimed more than 1,000 lives.
Two other top 10 deadliest U.S. hurricanes also hammered Louisiana.
An 1856 hurricane washed over a resort on Isle Dernière, about 75 miles southwest of New Orleans, trapping vacationers and cutting the island in two. About 400 were killed in that storm.
In June 1957, Category 3 Hurricane Audrey pushed storm surge as high as 12 feet up to 25 miles inland over southwest Louisiana, claiming at least 416 lives, according to the National Hurricane Center.
One of the benchmark New Orleans hurricanes of the 20th century was 1965’s Hurricane Betsy. Betsy’s 10-foot surge overwhelmed the city’s flood protection system. Betsy claimed 75 lives in Louisiana and Florida, and was the nation’s first billion-dollar hurricane. However, Katrina may have made Betsy one of America’s most forgotten hurricanes.
Audrey was one of only four U.S. June hurricane landfalls dating to 1950, the only one to do so as a major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane, roaring ashore in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, on June 27, 1957. Audrey claimed at least 416 lives in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, one of the deadliest U.S. hurricanes on record.
(Shel Hershorn/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. His lifelong love of meteorology began with a close encounter with a tornado as a child in Wisconsin. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.
