The Worst Hurricanes to Hit Hawaii, Ranked
With a Hurricane Watch up for Hawaiʻi County as Tropical Storm Nolo spins toward the Big Island, here's the honest answer to the question everyone types into a search bar first: yes, Hawaii gets hurricanes — but almost never a direct hit. Since records began in 1871, only about a dozen tropical cyclones have made landfall, and just one, Iniki, arrived as a major hurricane. These are the worst of them.
Live, September 24, 2026: Tropical Storm Nolo, about 300 miles south of the Big Island, is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane and make its closest approach to Hawaiʻi Island on Friday and Saturday, with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center warning of 15–20 inches of rain (locally up to 35) and possible life-threatening flooding. Follow the live track on our Tropical Storm Nolo tracker. The history below is why every one of those advisories is taken seriously.
Hawaii sits in the middle of the largest ocean on Earth, and yet it is one of the hardest places in the United States for a hurricane to hit head-on. That's not luck — it's geography and physics, and we'll get to the mechanism below. But the flip side is the part that keeps emergency managers awake: on the rare occasions a storm does break through, there is very little land to weaken it and nowhere for anyone to go.
Below, the worst hurricanes and tropical cyclones in Hawaii's recorded history, ranked by their overall toll on the islands, then the reason the islands are usually spared — and why the biggest danger, more often than not, is water, not wind.
The Worst Hurricanes in Hawaii History, Ranked
Because Hawaii is hit so rarely, no single number cleanly orders these storms — so this ranks them by overall impact on the islands: a blend of deaths, damage and how close the core came. Every figure is cited to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, the National Hurricane Center or the storm's official record.
| Storm | Date | Peak | Islands | Deaths | Damage | Why it made the list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Iniki (1992) | Sept 11, 1992 | Cat 4 (145 mph) | Direct hit on Kauai | 6 | $3.1B (1992) · ~$7.3B today | The strongest and costliest hurricane in Hawaii’s recorded history, and the only major hurricane to score a direct hit in the modern record. It drove an 18-foot surge onto Kauai’s south shore, damaged or destroyed more than 14,000 homes, and left a fifth of the island without power a month later. |
| Hurricane Iwa (1982) | Nov 23, 1982 | Cat 1 | Kauai, Oahu (passed just west) | 4 | ~$250M (1982) · ~$950M today | An El Niño-year storm that raced past Kauai at nearly 50 mph without a formal landfall, yet still ruined homes across Kauai and west Oahu. It was Hawaii’s most damaging hurricane until Iniki, and a rare late-November strike. |
| Hurricane Lane (2018) | Aug 22–26, 2018 | Cat 5 (offshore) | Big Island (no landfall) | 1 | Flood/landslide damage | Never made landfall, but dumped 52.02 inches of rain at Mountain View on the Big Island — the second-highest tropical-cyclone rainfall total ever recorded in the United States, behind only Hurricane Harvey’s 60.58 inches in Texas. |
| Hurricane Dot (1959) | Aug 6, 1959 | Cat 1 at landfall | Direct hit on Kauai | 2 | Few $ million (1959) | Struck Kauai weeks before Hawaii became a state, with gusts over 100 mph. One of only three storms to make a hurricane-strength landfall on the islands — and, like the others, it hit Kauai. |
| Hurricane Nina (1957) | Dec 1–2, 1957 | Cat 1 | Kauai (passed ~120 mi SW) | 4 | ~$100,000 (1957) | Stayed offshore but set Honolulu’s all-time wind-gust record of 82 mph — a reminder that a storm doesn’t have to make landfall to be dangerous in Hawaii. |
| Hurricane Hiki (1950) | Aug 15–17, 1950 | Tropical storm/Cat 1 | Kauai (passed north) | 1 | Flood damage | The first well-documented Hawaiian tropical cyclone. It poured 52 inches of rain on Kauai over four days and, for decades, held the record for the most rainfall from a US tropical cyclone — a record Lane and Harvey later broke. |
| Hurricane Hone (2024) | Aug 25, 2024 | Cat 1 | Big Island (passed just south) | — | Flooding, downed trees | Skirted the south coast of the Big Island as a Category 1, dropping heavy rain and whipping up life-threatening surf. A textbook Hawaiian near-miss — close enough to do damage, not quite a direct hit. |
| Hurricane Douglas (2020) | July 26–27, 2020 | Cat 1 (near islands) | Oahu, Maui (passed just north) | — | Minor | Threaded the needle just north of Oahu — the closest a hurricane has ever come to Oahu in the recorded record — and somehow spared Honolulu a direct blow by a matter of miles. |
Iniki's toll is sometimes reported as 7 deaths; damage in “today” dollars is inflation-adjusted to 2026. In 2026 the Big Island took a rare direct strike from Hurricane Lala — its first since an unnamed storm in 1871 — which is exactly why this year's Nolo threat is being watched so closely.
Hurricane Iniki: Hawaii's Benchmark Storm
Every hurricane forecast in Hawaii is quietly measured against one storm. On September 11, 1992, Hurricane Iniki came ashore on Kauai as a Category 4 with sustained winds of 145 mph and gusts to 175. It pushed an 18-foot storm surge onto the island's south shore, damaged or destroyed more than 14,000 homes, and knocked out half of Kauai's power lines — a fifth of the island was still dark four weeks later.
Six people died, and damage reached $3.1 billion in 1992 dollars — roughly $7.3 billion today — making Iniki both the strongest and the costliest hurricane in Hawaii's recorded history. It is the only major hurricane to make a direct hit on the islands in the modern record, and the fact that it struck Kauai rather than densely populated Oahu is, in hindsight, the reason the death toll wasn't far worse. See where it ranks nationally in our deadliest hurricanes in US history list.
Why Hawaii Is Usually Spared
Most hurricanes that threaten Hawaii are born in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico, over some of the warmest water on the planet. To reach the islands they have to travel more than 2,000 miles west — and on that journey the ocean beneath them steadily cools. By the time a storm nears the Central Pacific, it is usually moving over water too cool to sustain a major hurricane, so it weakens.
Three other forces finish the job. Wind shear — a change in wind speed with height that tears a hurricane's structure apart — is common in the waters around Hawaii. Dry, stable air and the persistent trade-wind inversion starve storms of the moisture they need. And a mid-level ridge of high pressure tends to steer approaching systems south and west of the islands. Add the simple fact that the Hawaiian chain is a tiny target in a vast ocean, and the near-miss becomes the rule.
The exceptions cluster around a specific setup: an El Niño, or warm water pushing up from the south, with relaxed trade winds. That's the pattern that let Iwa through in 1982 and Iniki through in 1992 — and it's why a busy, warm-water Central Pacific season is the one that gets forecasters' attention. When a storm does find a lane straight over warm water at the islands, there is almost no land to slow it down, and, on islands, nowhere inland to evacuate to.
Hawaii's Real Hurricane Threat Is Often Rain
Here is the counterintuitive part: a storm doesn't have to make landfall — or even stay a hurricane — to be catastrophic in Hawaii. The islands' steep volcanic terrain wrings enormous rainfall out of any tropical system that stalls nearby, and that water has to go somewhere, fast, down mountainsides and into valleys.
Hurricane Lane, in August 2018, never came ashore — yet it dumped 52.02 inches of rain at Mountain View on the Big Island, the second-highest rainfall total from any tropical cyclone in US history, behind only Hurricane Harvey's 60.58 inches in Texas. Sixty-eight years earlier, Hurricane Hiki poured 52 inches on Kauai over four days and set the US tropical-cyclone rainfall record of its era. That's the number to watch with Nolo this weekend: the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's rainfall forecast, not just its wind category.
Where Nolo Fits in 2026
The 2026 season has already been unusual. The Big Island took its first direct tropical-cyclone hit since 1871 from Hurricane Lala, and now Nolo is lining up on a similar approach. Across the Pacific and Atlantic it has been a strange year for tropical weather generally — the Atlantic set the satellite-era record for the latest first hurricane on record. Track the wider picture on our running 2026 hurricane season page, and see how the calendar is built around the September climatological peak. The takeaway for anyone in the islands: direct hits are rare, but rare is not never — and the rain threat arrives long before the wind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Hawaii get hurricanes?
Yes, but direct hits are rare. Since records began in 1871, only about a dozen tropical cyclones have made a direct Hawaiian landfall, and just a handful arrived at hurricane strength. Far more common are near-misses that pass close enough to bring damaging surf, wind and flooding rain. The Central Pacific hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30.
What was the worst hurricane in Hawaii history?
Hurricane Iniki, on September 11, 1992. It made a direct hit on Kauai as a Category 4 with 145-mph winds, killed 6 people, and caused $3.1 billion in damage (1992 dollars) — the strongest and costliest hurricane in the state’s recorded history. It remains the benchmark storm every Hawaii forecast is measured against.
Has a hurricane ever directly hit Honolulu or Oahu?
No hurricane has made a direct hurricane-strength landfall on Oahu in the recorded record. The closest call was Hurricane Douglas in July 2020, which passed just north of the island — the nearest a hurricane has ever come to Oahu. Hawaii’s hurricane-strength landfalls (an unnamed 1871 storm, Dot in 1959, and Iniki in 1992) have all struck Kauai, the westernmost main island.
When is hurricane season in Hawaii?
The Central Pacific hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, the same as the Atlantic. Activity peaks from July through September, when ocean temperatures south of the islands are warmest. Most seasons Hawaii sees several storms pass through the Central Pacific basin, but the islands themselves are usually spared a direct hit.
Keep Exploring
Read about Hawaii's 2026 storm in Hurricane Lala, see the all-time ranking in the deadliest hurricanes in US history, understand the peak of hurricane season, or browse every storm in our hurricane history hub.
Sources & Method
Storms are ranked by overall impact on Hawaii (deaths, damage and proximity of the core), which is a judgment call given how rarely the islands are struck. Category, date, death, damage and rainfall figures are from the NOAA National Hurricane Center, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center and NWS Honolulu, with per-storm records aggregated via Wikipedia's “List of Hawaii hurricanes” (accessed September 24, 2026). Live Tropical Storm Nolo figures are from the CPHC public advisory of September 23–24, 2026. This site has no hurricane database of its own, so no figure here is computed — each traces to the agency record cited.