NOAA NHC Best Track (HURDAT2)
NOAA NHC Best Track (HURDAT2)
NOAA's National Hurricane Center publishes HURDAT2, the Atlantic and northeast/north-central Pacific tropical-cyclone best-track databases, as comma-delimited six-hourly text files (location, maximum winds, central pressure and related fields), with companion tropical-cyclone GIS products on the NHC GIS page.
Coverage
Atlantic HURDAT2 covers 1851 through the latest completed season (the NHC data page listed an 1851–2025 Atlantic file updated 23 Sep 2026, and a downloadable 1851–2024 text was confirmed live on 2026-11-06). Northeast and north-central Pacific HURDAT2 covers 1949 through the latest completed season (1949–2025 file listed on the same page). Exact storm counts are Not stated as a single total on the checked page.
Verdict
This is the official U.S. tropical-cyclone best-track history for agents that need storm tracks, intensity and timing as a maritime hazard and route-risk signal across the Atlantic and NE/NC Pacific basins. NWS's disclaimer says information on NWS Web pages "are in the public domain, unless specifically noted otherwise, and may be used without charge for any lawful purpose" (with the usual conditions against presenting the material as your own or as altered official material). Files are keyless HTTPS downloads; GIS track products are on the separate NHC GIS page.
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Use in your agent
Download NOAA NHC Atlantic HURDAT2 track text. Checked against the provider's documentation on Nov 6, 2026.
Access
- No key. HTTPS GET of the HURDAT2 text file from nhc.noaa.gov.
Request
curl -L -o hurdat2-atlantic.txt 'https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/hurdat/hurdat2-1851-2024-040425.txt'Format
Comma-delimited HURDAT2 text: storm header lines then six-hourly track rows.
Load into pandas and Parquet
Needs Python 3 with requests, pandas and pyarrow.
"""NOAA NHC HURDAT2 Atlantic HURDAT2 track -> pandas -> Parquet. No key."""
import requests
import pandas as pd
URL = "https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/hurdat/hurdat2-1851-2024-040425.txt"
r = requests.get(URL, timeout=120)
r.raise_for_status()
rows = []
storm_id = storm_name = None
for line in r.text.splitlines():
if line.startswith(("AL", "EP", "CP")):
parts = [p.strip() for p in line.split(",")]
storm_id, storm_name = parts[0], parts[1]
continue
if not line.strip() or storm_id is None:
continue
parts = [p.strip() for p in line.split(",")]
if len(parts) < 7:
continue
rows.append({"storm_id": storm_id, "name": storm_name, "ymd": parts[0], "hhmm": parts[1], "status": parts[3], "lat": parts[4], "lon": parts[5], "wind_kt": parts[6]})
df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
df.to_parquet("hurdat2_atlantic.parquet", index=False)
print(len(df), "track rows from", df["storm_id"].nunique(), "storms")
Run by us on 2026-11-06 (python 3 | pandas | requests). Result: Atlantic HURDAT2 text returned HTTP 200 on 2026-11-06 (~6.8 MB for the checked 1851–2024 file URL).
Limits
- Not stated numeric rate limit on the checked NHC pages.
Quirks
- Filename/date suffix under nhc.noaa.gov/data/hurdat/ can change when NHC posts a revised season file; use the links on https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/.
- NE/NC Pacific HURDAT2 is a separate file on the same NHC data page.
Terms and attribution
- NWS disclaimer: information on NWS Web pages "are in the public domain, unless specifically noted otherwise, and may be used without charge for any lawful purpose."
- HURDAT2 is the comma-delimited six-hourly HURDAT2 track format described on the NHC data page.
Sources
- https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/: “Best Track Data (HURDAT2)”
- https://www.weather.gov/disclaimer: “are in the public domain, unless specifically noted otherwise, and may be used without charge for any lawful purpose”
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