Kit guides
The main preparedness library. Every kit includes the full guide plus its printable checklist.
Be ready before the storm.
If you live on the Gulf or Atlantic coast, hurricane season is part of your calendar. This site covers the preparation piece: what to pack, what to understand, and where to start.
Coastal guides
Start with your coast.
Local risk changes the standard kit. Choose a regional guide for the agencies, hazards, and additions that matter where you live.
2026 season update
No Atlantic tropical cyclones are active; no new formation is expected this week.
This is not a live tracker.
This report is updated by hand and can be hours out of date. Do not use it for evacuation, shelter, or timing decisions. Get current information from:
- National Hurricane Center — official storm tracks and advisories
- National Weather Service — local watches, warnings, and forecasts
- Your local emergency management office — evacuation orders and shelters
- NOAA Weather Radio, local TV and radio, and wireless emergency alerts on your phone
The National Hurricane Center's Atlantic 7-Day Tropical Weather Outlook, issued October 28 at 8 a.m. EDT, reports no active tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of America and says tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next seven days.
Separate marine hazards are not tropical cyclone threats. The NHC's Atlantic Tropical Weather Discussion, issued at 12:15 UTC on October 28, reports fresh to near gale-force northeast winds and rough to very rough seas north of the Bahamas, with peak seas near 17 feet. It also forecasts fresh to strong northeast-to-east winds and rough seas in the eastern Gulf into late this week. Mariners should use the latest NWS High Seas Forecast; coastal residents should check their local National Weather Service office for current watches, warnings, and forecasts.
Preparedness isn't about fear.
It's about care. You prepare because you have people, pets, medications, documents, and routines worth protecting. A hurricane kit is not panic shopping. It's a set of decisions made early enough that landfall doesn't get to make them for you.
Most hurricane content is either frightening or useless. Federal checklists with all the warmth of a legal disclaimer. Affiliate roundups where every recommendation earns a commission. This site is neither: plain-language guidance for Gulf and Atlantic coast households, written by someone who actually thought it through.
No ads. No affiliate links. Just specific guidance, printable checklists, and state pages you can send to someone before a storm is on the map.
Start where you are
Two ways in: start with the coastal guide for your state if you want to understand your local risk first, or go straight to the kit library if you just need a list.
Coastal guides
Use the geography first: local risk, regional supply additions, and the official sources to bookmark before the season.
Storm atlas
Compare selected historical Atlantic hurricane tracks from NOAA/NHC best-track data.
Support this site
If this site helped, keep it going.
No ads. No affiliate links. If this made your hurricane prep clearer, you can help keep the site free and up to date.
Editorial note
How this guidance is reviewed
This page was reviewed on October 28, 2026. Hurricane Coast is an independent preparedness project with no ads or affiliate links.
This guidance is checked against Ready.gov, the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service, FEMA, and the state or local emergency management sources linked on the page.
Use this page to prepare early. When local officials issue evacuation orders, shelter instructions, weather alerts, or medical guidance, follow those primary sources first.