January
Peak · dry
Outside hurricane season entirely — winter fronts bring breeze, not storms.
Air
25°C
Water
24°C
Crowds
High
Prices
High
Classic postcard weather and the highest rates. Book two to three months out.
Weather & storm season
Hurricane season, honestly.
Six months of the year carry some storm risk, and those same months are the warmest, quietest and cheapest to travel in. Here's the honest version — when the risk actually sits, what happens if a storm comes, and the terms worth insisting on before you pay a deposit.
Illustrative — not a live forecast
Season runs
Jun 1 – Nov 30
The official Atlantic window
Peak weeks
Mid-Aug – mid-Oct
Statistically busiest, around Sep 10
Our pick
May & June
Warm water, low rates, quiet tropics
The shape of the year
Storm risk isn't spread evenly. Not close.
The season is six months long, but the activity stacks into about six weeks of it. Pick a month to see what you'd actually be booking into.
Relative Atlantic storm activity across the year, indexed to the September peak. It's the shape of the season, not a forecast, and not the odds of a storm reaching any one island.
Outside the season
February
Peak · dry
No storm risk. The occasional cold front drops temperatures for a day or two.
Air
25°C
Water
24°C
Crowds
High
Prices
High
Dry, breezy, and popular — a reliable choice if you can pay peak prices.
March
Peak · dry
No storm risk. Windier than midwinter, which sailors like and swimmers notice.
Air
26°C
Water
25°C
Crowds
High
Prices
High
Great weather, but Nassau and Grand Bahama get lively. Out Islands stay calmer.
April
Shoulder
Still outside the season. Calm, dry, and settled — the last of the reliable weather.
Air
27°C
Water
25°C
Crowds
Medium
Prices
High
Crowds start to thin while the weather holds. A smart late-peak window.
May
Sweet spot
Pre-season. Named storms this early are rare and almost never reach the Bahamas.
Air
28°C
Water
26°C
Crowds
Low
Prices
Medium
Warm water, thin crowds, soft prices — our favourite month to travel.
June
Sweet spot
Season opens June 1, but June is historically among its quietest months.
Air
29°C
Water
27°C
Crowds
Low
Prices
Medium
The value sweet spot continues — book flexible cancellation as hurricane season opens.
July
Low · warm
Activity starts to build. Still low, but this is when to start checking the tropics.
Air
30°C
Water
28°C
Crowds
Medium
Prices
Medium
Hot and festive. A brief local-holiday bump, then quiet again.
August
Low · warm
The ramp-up month — activity climbs sharply through the second half.
Air
31°C
Water
29°C
Crowds
Low
Prices
Low
The warmest water of the year and the lowest rates. Watch the tropics.
September
Low · storm
The statistical peak of the Atlantic season, centred on the second week.
Air
31°C
Water
29°C
Crowds
Low
Prices
Low
Rock-bottom prices and empty beaches, but peak storm season — travel flexibly.
October
Low · storm
Past the peak but still active, with storms more likely to form close to home.
Air
30°C
Water
28°C
Crowds
Low
Prices
Low
Still storm season, still great value. Keep an eye on the forecast the week before.
November
Shoulder
The season winds down. Risk drops steeply and ends with the month.
Air
28°C
Water
27°C
Crowds
Medium
Prices
Medium
Storm risk fades and prices are still reasonable. An underrated month.
December
Peak · dry
Season closed on November 30. Back to dry, settled winter weather.
Air
26°C
Water
25°C
Crowds
High
Prices
High
Holidays bring crowds and top rates, but the Junkanoo parades are unmissable.
First, the framing
A season is not a storm.
"Hurricane season" describes a six-month window in which storms are possible somewhere in a very large ocean. It does not describe the weather you'll get. Most trips taken inside it come home with nothing more dramatic than an afternoon of hard rain and a cancelled boat day.
What changes in these months isn't whether you go. It's how you book: terms you can actually use, insurance bought early, and the habit of checking the National Hurricane Center in the week before you fly.
6 months
of official season — June through November — against roughly six weeks that carry most of the activity.
700 islands
spread across a basin far wider than any one storm. A named storm in the Atlantic is usually nowhere near your island.
48 hours
of warning before conditions are even possible. You will not be surprised by a hurricane; you'll watch it coming for days.
If one does come
How a storm actually arrives.
It's a week-long sequence with clear decision points, not a single moment. Step through it.
Watching
Something in the Atlantic
A disturbance gets flagged and the forecast cone appears. At this range the cone is wide and the track routinely shifts hundreds of miles — most systems at this stage never reach the Bahamas at all.
What you do
Don't cancel anything. Note it, check once a day, and find your airline's change policy so you're not reading it in a panic later.
Possible
Hurricane watch
A watch means hurricane conditions are possible in the area within 48 hours. Airlines start issuing change waivers, and the flights off the island begin filling.
What you do
This is the decision point, not the panic point. If you are going to move your trip, do it now — a waiver is worth far more before everyone else uses theirs.
Expected
Hurricane warning
A warning means those conditions are now expected. Ports close, the airport winds down, and shops sell out of water and batteries. Government shelters open on the affected islands.
What you do
If you're still on the island, you're staying. Follow your host and the local authorities, fill water containers, charge everything, and move off the ground floor if asked.
Sheltering
The storm itself
The worst of it typically passes in a matter of hours, though the outer bands run much longer. Power and mobile networks usually go before the wind peaks.
What you do
Stay inside, away from windows, through the whole thing — the calm of an eye passing overhead is not the end of the storm.
Recovering
Reopening
Airports reopen in stages, usually once runways are cleared and power is restored. A lightly brushed island can be running again in a day or two; a directly hit one takes far longer.
What you do
Expect a backlog on outbound flights, and keep every receipt — most insurance claims are settled on paperwork, not on how bad it felt.
Reading the numbers
What a category actually means.
The Saffir–Simpson scale rates sustained wind speed, and the jump between steps is much bigger than the numbers suggest. Category 3 and above is classed as a major hurricane.
39–73 mph
Tropical storm — A very bad beach day
Rain in sheets, rough seas, boat trips cancelled, and the odd power flicker. Uncomfortable and trip-disrupting rather than dangerous in a solid building.
74–95 mph
Category 1 — Damage to the fragile things
Branches down, unsecured roofing and signage gone, power out for a day or more. Well-built Bahamian homes come through it fine.
96–110 mph
Category 2 — Real, extensive damage
Roof and siding damage is widespread, shallow-rooted trees come down, and power can be out for days to weeks on smaller islands.
111–129 mph
Category 3 — A major hurricane
Category 3 and up is classed as a major hurricane. Structural damage becomes common and water and electricity can be gone for weeks.
130–156 mph
Category 4 — Severe, lasting damage
Most trees snapped, roofs and exterior walls lost on many buildings, and areas left uninhabitable for weeks or months.
157+ mph
Category 5 — Catastrophic
A high share of buildings destroyed outright. Dorian, which stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama in September 2019, was a Category 5 — the storm every plan in the Bahamas is written against.
Before you pay
The six terms worth insisting on.
A cheap September week is only cheap if you can walk away from it. Settle all of this in writing, in the message thread, before any money moves.
- 01
A named-storm clause, in writing
Not "we'll work with you." Ask for the actual sentence covering what happens if a named storm affects your dates, and get it in the message thread or the rental agreement.
- 02
Who decides — and on what trigger
The clause should hang on something external and checkable: a hurricane warning for the island, a government evacuation order, or the airport closing. Not the host's judgement on the day.
- 03
Refund or credit, and how much
A credit for a future stay is worth much less than money back. Ask directly which one you get, whether it covers the full amount including fees, and how long a credit lasts.
- 04
A free-cancellation window you can actually use
Many policies stop being flexible 30 or 60 days out — well before a storm is ever forecast. A window that closes before the tropics are even readable is not storm protection.
- 05
What happens if you can't get there
Storms cancel flights to islands they never hit. Ask whether a cancelled inbound flight counts, or only a storm hitting the island itself — the two are very different clauses.
- 06
What happens if the house loses power or water
Common after even a glancing storm. Ask whether there is a generator and a water tank, and what the position is if the house is standing but not really livable.
Slow the booking down if you see
- A refund promise made only over the phone, never in writing
- Payment by bank transfer or app with no platform protection behind it
- "Case by case" as the entire cancellation policy
- A credit with no expiry date stated — or one that quietly expires in months
- Silence when you ask which trigger the clause runs on
The other half of the protection
How travel insurance really behaves.
General guidance, not advice on a specific policy — always read the named-storm wording on the one you're actually buying.
Buy before it has a name
Once a storm is named, it becomes a foreseeable event and policies bought after that point generally will not cover it. Cover bought at booking is worth far more than cover bought when the forecast turns.
Standard cover is narrower than it sounds
Most policies pay out for a named list of reasons — the airline cancels, the accommodation becomes uninhabitable, an evacuation is ordered. Deciding you no longer fancy the forecast is rarely on that list.
"Cancel for any reason" is the one that covers nerves
CFAR upgrades cost more, usually have to be added soon after your first booking, and typically refund a percentage rather than the lot. It is the only version that pays out simply because you changed your mind.
Keep the paper trail
Cancellation emails, the airline notice, receipts for the extra hotel night. Claims are settled on documentation, and it is far easier to collect it as it happens than to reconstruct it later.
Island by island
Same season, different logistics.
Storm risk across the chain is broadly similar. What differs is how quickly an island gets back on its feet — and how easily you can leave.
Nassau & Paradise Island
The best-resourced island for a storm: the most solid building stock, the most shelters, and the airport that reopens first and flies the most routes out.
Island guide
Exuma
Long, thin and low, with a single small airport. Rarely the headline in a storm, but a spread-out island where power and water take longer to come back.
Island guide
Eleuthera & Harbour Island
Narrow enough that weather crosses the whole island at once, and reliant on a short water crossing to Harbour Island that stops running well before a storm arrives.
Island guide
Grand Bahama
Took the worst of Dorian in 2019 alongside Abaco, and parts of the island are still rebuilding. Also the closest island to Florida, which makes leaving early easiest.
Island guideGood to know
Hurricane season, answered
When is hurricane season in the Bahamas?
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Activity is not spread evenly across it: June and July are historically quiet, activity climbs sharply through August, peaks in the second week of September, and falls away through late October and November.
Is it safe to visit the Bahamas during hurricane season?
For most trips, yes. The season is six months long and storms are episodic rather than constant — the large majority of trips taken during it see nothing worse than a heavy rain day. What changes is not whether you go, but how you book: flexible cancellation terms, travel insurance bought at the time of booking, and a habit of checking the tropics in the week before you fly.
What is the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning?
A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible in the area within 48 hours. A hurricane warning means those conditions are expected within 36 hours. A watch is the point to make a decision about moving your trip; by the time a warning is issued, most flights out have gone.
Will a rental host refund me if a hurricane hits?
It depends entirely on the terms you agreed to, which is why they are worth settling before you pay. Ask for a named-storm clause in writing, tied to an external trigger like a hurricane warning for the island or the airport closing, and be clear on whether you get money back or a credit toward a future stay.
Does travel insurance cover hurricanes?
Only if you bought it before the storm was named — after that it counts as a foreseeable event and is generally excluded. Standard policies cover a defined list of situations, such as the airline cancelling or an evacuation being ordered. A "cancel for any reason" upgrade is the only version that pays out because you simply decided not to travel, and it typically refunds a percentage rather than the full cost.
How much cheaper is the Bahamas during hurricane season?
Rates drop steadily from June and bottom out in September and October, the cheapest and quietest months of the year across all four islands. That discount is the trade-off for the risk — which is exactly why the cancellation terms attached to a cheap late-summer booking matter more than the price itself.
Keep planning your trip
Free download
The 30-point rental checklist
Every question worth asking a host before you pay — including the storm-season terms on this page, in a list you can work through.
Sending it over…
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