Hurricane season is underway across the country, and the busiest stretch is just ahead. NOAA puts the historical Atlantic peak from mid-September through October.
The details: Three basins are in season right now:
- Atlantic (East and Gulf Coasts): June 1 to November 30
- Eastern Pacific (West Coast): May 15 to November 30
- Central Pacific (Hawaii): June 1 to November 30
The big picture: A quieter forecast is not a lighter risk. NOAA’s August update calls for a below-normal Atlantic season of 7 to 13 named storms, with a 75% chance activity stays below normal, as a strengthening El Niño suppresses storm formation. That same El Niño is pushing the Pacific the other way, with 15 to 22 named storms forecast in the Eastern Pacific and a 70% chance of an above-normal Central Pacific season.
Yes, but: Seasonal forecasts predict how many storms form, not where they land. Wherever you live, it only takes one storm making landfall nearby to disrupt power, internet, and phone service for days.
Why Staying Connected Matters
The stakes: During a hurricane, connectivity is how you get the information you need to stay safe. It’s how you receive weather updates and evacuation alerts, check in with family and friends, and reach emergency services if something goes wrong.
The catch: Storms are hard on the very infrastructure connectivity depends on. High winds, flooding, and storm surge can knock out cell towers and internet lines right when you need them most. A little preparation now can make a real difference later.
5 Ways to Stay Connected Before the Storm
Even the most prepared communities can lose service. These steps won’t prevent an outage, but they will help you stay informed and protect your equipment:
- Build a connectivity kit. Fully charge phones, tablets, and laptops, and keep portable power banks and extra cables on hand. A battery-powered or hand-crank radio is a good backup if power and internet both go out.
- Save key information offline. Write down emergency contacts, your provider’s support number, and important account details somewhere you can reach them without service.
- Turn on emergency alerts. Confirm weather and emergency notifications are enabled on your phone and set to your current location.
- Know your evacuation zone. Coastal states and cities set their own zones based on local flood and storm surge risk, so confirm yours with your state or county emergency management office and agree on an out-of-area contact your family can check in with. Ready.gov’s evacuation guide is a good place to start. If you need shelter, text SHELTER and your ZIP code to 43362 for nearby options.
- Protect your home equipment. Keep modems and routers off the floor to reduce flood risk, and plug TVs, modems, and cable boxes into surge protectors in case power cuts out or returns suddenly.
Where to Get Help If Your Service Goes Out
Providers stage crews and resources ahead of major storms so they can respond as soon as conditions allow. Bookmark these pages now, before you need them:
- Spectrum (Charter): The Spectrum Storm Center offers storm updates, outage reporting, and restoration information.
- Xfinity (Comcast): The Xfinity Response Center provides service status updates, safety tips, and a map of nearby Xfinity WiFi hotspots.
- Midco: Check service status and report outages on Midco’s outage resource page.
Of note: Power comes back before broadband does. Crews cannot safely restore network equipment until the utility re-energizes the lines, so internet often trails electricity by hours or days.
The bottom line: Sign up for your provider’s alerts and bookmark its outage page today, not once a storm is on its way. Taking these steps now means one less thing to scramble for later.
Dive deeper: To see what it takes to restore connectivity after a major storm, After the Storm goes behind the scenes with crews responding to Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton, and the Palisades Fire, showing how broadband, utility, and government teams work together to reconnect communities.