<p>Hurricanes make "landfall" when the center of the eye moves over land. </p>

<p>From the <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutgloss.shtml" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NOAA National Hurricane Center glossary</a>: </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Landfall:
  The intersection of the surface center of a tropical cyclone with a coastline.Because the strongest winds in a tropical cyclone are not located precisely at the center, it is possible for a cyclone's strongest winds to be experienced over land even if landfall does not occur. Similarly, it is possible for a tropical cyclone to make landfall and have its strongest winds remain over the water. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Below is an example image showing when landfall occurred for Hurricane Harvey:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/rZQw7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/rZQw7.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-26T12:28:40.133Z
Note how this makes it consistent, as there's no other obvious way to track weaker storms, plus makes larger-scale sense. However it can certainly lead to occasional perplexed reactions by the public, as when a location battered by a big hurricane finally emerges into the eye, only to hear landfall remains hours away (on storms with slow motion).  And it also results in some peculiar circumstances where a storm fully batters the coast with its central core, eye even emerges onshore, yet never makes official landfall (as was the case with Hurricane Matthew near in SC\GA in October 2016)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-26T05:34:33.800Z
2017-08-26T13:44:08.783Z
2017-08-26T13:44:08.783Z
f.thorpe
<p>Watching the news for the US hurricane Harvey and they say it will make landfall soon. But what part of the hurricane are they referring to?</p>

<meteorology>
What part of a hurricane determines if it makes landfall?
The_MN_MechE
# What part of a hurricane determines if it makes landfall?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-26)

Watching the news for the US hurricane Harvey and they say it will make landfall soon. But what part of the hurricane are they referring to?

**Tags:** meteorology


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-08-26. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Hurricanes make "landfall" when the center of the eye moves over land.

From the [NOAA National Hurricane Center glossary](http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutgloss.shtml):

> Landfall:
> The intersection of the surface center of a tropical cyclone with a coastline.Because the strongest winds in a tropical cyclone are not located precisely at the center, it is possible for a cyclone's strongest winds to be experienced over land even if landfall does not occur. Similarly, it is possible for a tropical cyclone to make landfall and have its strongest winds remain over the water.

Below is an example image showing when landfall occurred for Hurricane Harvey:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/rZQw7.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/rZQw7.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Note how this makes it consistent, as there's no other obvious way to track weaker storms, plus makes larger-scale sense. However it can certainly lead to occasional perplexed reactions by the public, as when a location battered by a big hurricane finally emerges into the eye, only to hear landfall remains hours away (on storms with slow motion).  And it also results in some peculiar circumstances where a storm fully batters the coast with its central core, eye even emerges onshore, yet never makes official landfall (as was the case with Hurricane Matthew near in SC\GA in October 2016)  

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