Hurricane Dolly (2008)

Track map, landfall & timeline · Atlantic · July 20–27, 2008

Peak wind

98 mph

157 km/h · Jul 23

Peak category

Cat 2

Saffir–Simpson

Lowest pressure

963 mb

Landfalls

Texas · Quintana Roo, Mexico

Lifetime

6.5 d

Jul 20 – Jul 27

Distance

1,887 mi

3,036 km

ACE

6.2

storm energy

TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. During the replay the shaded rings show the storm’s wind field as analysed by NHC — 39+, 58+ and 74+ mph winds, quadrant by quadrant. Click any point or table row to jump there.

01 · The story

What happened with Dolly

Hurricane Dolly (2008) was a Category 2 hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season. It formed on July 20, 2008, 161 mi NE of Iriona, Honduras, reached its peak of 98 mph (157 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 963 mb on July 23, 2008, and made landfall 3 times — first 13 mi NNE of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico on July 21, 2008 as a tropical storm (52 mph). Later landfalls: 23 mi N of Port Isabel, Texas on July 23, 2008 as a Category 1 hurricane (86 mph); 23 mi NE of Harlingen, Texas on July 23, 2008 as a Category 1 hurricane (81 mph). It rapidly intensified by 35 mph in 24 hours (to 98 mph on July 23, 2008). The storm lasted 6.5 days and travelled about 1,887 miles (3,036 km).

02 · Intensity

Wind and pressure, hour by hour

Maximum sustained wind (mph) — hover or drag to scrub the map

03 · Impact

Landfalls and cities in the path

Landfall (UTC)	Where	Strength	Pressure
July 21, 2008 · 06:00 UTC	13 mi NNE of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico	TS 52 mph	1007 mb
July 23, 2008 · 18:00 UTC	23 mi N of Port Isabel, Texas	Cat 1 86 mph	967 mb
July 23, 2008 · 20:00 UTC	23 mi NE of Harlingen, Texas	Cat 1 81 mph	967 mb

Closest approach to major cities

City	Distance to center	When (UTC)	Storm strength then
Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico	28 mi	Jul 21 · 06:00 UTC	TS 52 mph
Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico	37 mi	Jul 23 · 20:00 UTC	Cat 1 81 mph
Brownsville, Texas	35 mi	Jul 23 · 20:00 UTC	Cat 1 81 mph
Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico	39 mi	Jul 24 · 03:00 UTC	TS 69 mph
McAllen, Texas	30 mi	Jul 24 · 03:00 UTC	TS 69 mph
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico	direct hit	Jul 24 · 15:00 UTC	TS 46 mph
Laredo, Texas	direct hit	Jul 24 · 15:00 UTC	TS 46 mph
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico	10 mi	Jul 26 · 17:00 UTC	TD 23 mph
El Paso, Texas	direct hit	Jul 26 · 17:00 UTC	TD 23 mph
Las Cruces, New Mexico	14 mi	Jul 26 · 20:00 UTC	TD 23 mph

Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.

04 · Timeline

Every official fix 31 positions

Date · UTC	Status	Wind	Pressure	Position	Nearest place
Jul 20 12:00	TS	46 mph	1008 mb	17.8°N 83.6°W	153 mi NNE of Brus Laguna, Honduras
Jul 20 18:00	TS	46 mph	1008 mb	18.6°N 84.6°W	185 mi N of Iriona, Honduras
Jul 21 00:00	TS	52 mph	1007 mb	19.8°N 85.8°W	89 mi ESE of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Jul 21 06:00	TS LANDFALL	52 mph	1007 mb	20.8°N 87.0°W	13 mi NNE of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Jul 21 06:00	TS	52 mph	1007 mb	20.9°N 87.2°W	20 mi NNW of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Jul 21 12:00	TS	52 mph	1005 mb	21.8°N 88.8°W	58 mi NNE of Motul, Yucatán, Mexico
Jul 21 18:00	TS	52 mph	1005 mb	22.8°N 90.4°W	115 mi NNW of Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico
Jul 22 00:00	TS	52 mph	1000 mb	23.0°N 92.0°W	open ocean
Jul 22 06:00	TS	52 mph	999 mb	23.2°N 93.3°W	open ocean
Jul 22 12:00	TS	63 mph	993 mb	23.7°N 94.1°W	open ocean
Jul 22 18:00	TS	69 mph	990 mb	24.3°N 94.9°W	open ocean
Jul 23 00:00	Cat 1	75 mph	982 mb	24.9°N 95.7°W	131 mi ESE of Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Jul 23 06:00	Cat 1	81 mph	982 mb	25.4°N 96.2°W	88 mi ESE of Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Jul 23 12:00	Cat 2	98 mph	967 mb	25.9°N 96.7°W	50 mi E of Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Jul 23 14:00	Cat 2	98 mph	963 mb	26.0°N 96.8°W	45 mi E of Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Jul 23 18:00	Cat 1	86 mph	967 mb	26.4°N 97.2°W	34 mi ENE of Harlingen, Texas
Jul 23 18:00	Cat 1 LANDFALL	86 mph	967 mb	26.4°N 97.2°W	34 mi ENE of Harlingen, Texas
Jul 23 20:00	Cat 1 LANDFALL	81 mph	967 mb	26.4°N 97.4°W	23 mi NE of Harlingen, Texas
Jul 24 00:00	Cat 1	75 mph	976 mb	26.5°N 97.8°W	near Raymondville, Texas
Jul 24 06:00	TS	63 mph	986 mb	26.7°N 98.3°W	29 mi NNW of Edinburg, Texas
Jul 24 12:00	TS	52 mph	992 mb	27.2°N 98.9°W	42 mi ESE of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Jul 24 18:00	TS	40 mph	995 mb	27.9°N 100.0°W	42 mi NW of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Jul 25 00:00	TD	29 mph	1000 mb	28.3°N 101.4°W	27 mi NNW of Nueva Rosita, Coahuila, Mexico
Jul 25 06:00	TD	29 mph	1004 mb	28.5°N 102.7°W	84 mi WNW of Ciudad Melchor Múzquiz, Coahuila, Mexico
Jul 25 12:00	TD	29 mph	1008 mb	28.8°N 104.0°W	58 mi SSE of Manuel Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico
Jul 25 18:00	TD	29 mph	1009 mb	29.4°N 105.0°W	30 mi WSW of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico
Jul 26 00:00	TD low/wave	23 mph	1012 mb	30.0°N 105.7°W	75 mi WNW of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico
Jul 26 06:00	TD low/wave	23 mph	1011 mb	30.5°N 106.0°W	89 mi SSE of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Jul 26 12:00	TD low/wave	23 mph	1010 mb	31.0°N 106.3°W	51 mi S of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Jul 26 18:00	TD low/wave	23 mph	1014 mb	31.9°N 106.7°W	16 mi NW of El Paso, Texas
Jul 27 00:00	TD low/wave	23 mph	1016 mb	32.9°N 106.3°W	20 mi W of Alamogordo, New Mexico

⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track

Questions

Frequently asked questions

When and where did Dolly make landfall?

Dolly made landfall 3 times: 13 mi NNE of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico on July 21, 2008 at 06:00 UTC, as a tropical storm with 52 mph winds; 23 mi N of Port Isabel, Texas on July 23, 2008 at 18:00 UTC, as a Category 1 hurricane with 86 mph winds; 23 mi NE of Harlingen, Texas on July 23, 2008 at 20:00 UTC, as a Category 1 hurricane with 81 mph winds.

What category was Dolly?

At its peak on July 23, 2008, Dolly was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 98 mph (157 km/h) and a central pressure of 963 mb. At its first landfall it was a tropical storm.

How long did Dolly last?

6.5 days, from July 20, 2008 to July 27, 2008, including 30 hours at hurricane strength. It travelled about 1,887 miles.

Where can I download the track data for Dolly?

The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.

Related storms

Keep exploring

Every storm named Dolly

Year	Storm	Peak	Landfall
1953	Hurricane Dolly Atlantic	Cat 1 75 mph	Bermuda	→
1954	Hurricane Dolly Atlantic	Cat 1 86 mph	—	→
1968	Hurricane Dolly Atlantic	Cat 1 86 mph	—	→
1974	Tropical Storm Dolly Atlantic	TS 69 mph	—	→
1996	Hurricane Dolly Atlantic	Cat 1 81 mph	Veracruz, Mexico, Quintana Roo, Mexico	→
2002	Tropical Storm Dolly Atlantic	TS 58 mph	—	→
2008	Hurricane Dolly · this page Atlantic	Cat 2 98 mph	Texas, Quintana Roo, Mexico
2014	Tropical Storm Dolly Atlantic	TS 52 mph	Tamaulipas, Mexico	→
2020	Tropical Storm Dolly Atlantic	TS 46 mph	—
2026	Tropical Storm Dolly Atlantic	TS 40 mph	—

Names are recycled every six years unless a storm is so deadly or costly that the name is retired.

Strongest storms of 2008

Year	Storm	Peak	Landfall
2008	Hurricane Gustav Atlantic	Cat 4 155 mph	Pinar del Río, Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba	→
2008	Hurricane Ike Atlantic	Cat 4 144 mph	Holguín Province, Cuba, Texas	→
2008	Hurricane Paloma Atlantic	Cat 4 144 mph	Camagüey, Cuba	→
2008	Hurricane Omar Atlantic	Cat 4 132 mph	—	→
2008	Hurricane Norbert Eastern Pacific	Cat 4 132 mph	Baja California Sur, Mexico, Sonora, Mexico	→
2008	Hurricane Bertha Atlantic	Cat 3 127 mph	—	→
2008	Hurricane Hernan Eastern Pacific	Cat 3 121 mph	—	→
2008	Hurricane Elida Eastern Pacific	Cat 2 104 mph	—	→

See every 2008 storm on one map →

Background reading: Hurricane Dolly on Wikipedia.

← Previous Atlantic stormTropical Storm Cristobal (2008)Next Atlantic storm →Tropical Storm Edouard (2008)

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