HurriTrack
Privacy Policy
What we collect, what we don't, and how to reach us. Last updated 8 October 2026.
The short version
HurriTrack is a free, independent Atlantic hurricane tracker. We don't sell your personal information. The distance to each storm is worked out in your browser; if you share your location, it is also sent to our server so we can look up official National Weather Service alerts for that spot (details below). We are not currently collecting email addresses. The site uses Google Analytics to count visits and Google AdSense to show ads, both described below.
Your location (the "near me" check)
When you tap "Check my area", your browser asks for permission to share your location. You can decline and still use the rest of the site. If you allow it, your location is used in two ways:
- Distance and bearing to active storms are worked out inside your browser.
- Official alerts for your spot. To show the National Weather Service watches and warnings in effect where you are, your browser sends your coordinates, rounded to four decimal places (about 10 metres), to our server, and our server passes them to the NWS alerts service (
api.weather.gov). NWS receives the coordinates from our server, not your IP address. While the page stays open the lookup repeats each time the storm list refreshes, about every four minutes.
We do not write your coordinates to a database, attach them to a name, email address or account, or use them for advertising. They are part of the web address of the request, so Cloudflare handles them like any other request data (see the table below), and a copy of the NWS answer is kept in Cloudflare's edge cache, filed under those coordinates, for up to 24 hours. The page itself keeps your location in memory only; it is gone when you close or reload the page.
The storm-alert waitlist
We are not currently collecting alert signups. The email and area form is disabled until a storage, confirmation, and deletion workflow is live. The homepage shows a notice in its place, and the signup endpoint refuses every request rather than storing anything.
This page previously described an active waitlist store. That description was ahead of the implementation, and it has been corrected: today HurriTrack holds no email addresses and no locations belonging to site visitors.
When alerts do launch, this section will be rewritten first, and it will state the processor, the confirmation (double opt-in) step, the retention window, and the deletion path before any address is accepted.
Cookies & advertising
Right now HurriTrack requests non-personalized ads for every visitor, everywhere. That means ads are selected from general context — not from a profile of your prior browsing. We will only enable personalized advertising once a consent choice is presented first.
HurriTrack is supported by advertising through Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads, including personalized ads based on your prior visits to this and other sites. You can control this:
- Manage ad personalization at Google My Ad Center.
- Opt out of personalized advertising from participating vendors at aboutads.info/choices or youronlinechoices.eu.
- See how Google uses data from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Analytics
HurriTrack uses Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which pages, guides and buttons people use, so we know what to improve. The Google Analytics tag is loaded on pages across the site, including this one.
- Cookies. It sets two first-party cookies,
_gaand_ga_QRV96FVVM4, to tell visits apart. Google's default lifetime for both is two years. - What Google receives. The address of the page you are on and of the page you came from, your browser and device details, your IP address as seen by Google, and events such as which guide or button you clicked (labelled with the storm name or the link text). Google estimates an approximate location from the IP address.
- What it does not receive. Your location from the "near me" check, or any email address. HurriTrack does not send either to Google Analytics.
- Your choice. Block it with Google's Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or by blocking
googletagmanager.comin your browser or content blocker. The site works the same without it.
See how Google uses data from sites that use its services.
Who processes data for us
These are every third party involved in delivering HurriTrack, what each one receives, and how to opt out. We are the controller for this site; contact details are under Contact.
| Processor | Purpose | Data | Region / transfer | Retention | Opt-out / deletion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosting, CDN, abuse protection | IP address, user agent, requested URL (which includes your coordinates when the alerts lookup runs) | Global edge network; may be processed outside your country | Transient operational logs, retained by Cloudflare per its own policy | Not optional — it delivers the page. See Cloudflare's privacy policy. |
| Google AdSense | Advertising | Cookies / similar identifiers, IP address, ad interactions | Google global infrastructure, incl. the United States | Set by Google; see its policy | Google My Ad Center; in the EEA/UK/Switzerland we serve non-personalized ads unless you consent |
| Google Analytics | Visit statistics | Cookies (_ga, _ga_QRV96FVVM4), page address, referrer, browser and device details, IP address, click events |
Google global infrastructure, incl. the United States | Set in our Analytics account; see Google's policy | Analytics opt-out add-on, or block googletagmanager.com |
| Google Fonts | Web typography | IP address, user agent (to serve the font files) | Google global infrastructure | No profile is built for font requests | Browser-level blocking; the site remains readable in fallback fonts |
| NOAA / National Hurricane Center | Storm data and satellite imagery | Nothing about you. Our edge server fetches the feed; your browser never contacts NOAA | United States (server-to-server only) | n/a | n/a |
| NOAA / National Weather Service | Official watches and warnings for your location | Your coordinates (four decimal places), sent from our server when you use "Check my area". Not your IP address | United States (server-to-server only) | Per NOAA's own policy. We keep a copy of the answer in Cloudflare's edge cache for up to 24 hours | Decline the location permission, or don't tap "Check my area" |
| Email provider | Storm alerts | — | — | — | None engaged. Alerts are not live and no address is collected. This row will name the provider before that changes. |
What our servers see
Like any website, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) processes standard request data — such as your IP address, browser type and, for the alerts lookup, the coordinates in the request address — to deliver pages and protect against abuse. Cloudflare also applies transient, IP-based rate limiting to protect the site from abuse; we don't build advertising profiles from it. The live storm data itself comes from NOAA's National Hurricane Center; visiting HurriTrack does not share your identity with NOAA.
Children
HurriTrack is a general-audience safety information site and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Your choices & rights
You can decline location access, opt out of Google Analytics (see Analytics above) and use your browser's ad and cookie controls at any time. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access or delete personal data we hold about you. Because we are not currently collecting signups, in practice there is no account or mailing-list record to access or delete — but if you believe we hold something about you, email us and we'll check and respond within 30 days.
Contact
Questions or a deletion request? Email privacy@hurritrack.com. We'll respond as promptly as we can.
HurriTrack is an independent tracker for general awareness and is not an official source. For any safety decision, always follow the National Hurricane Center and your local emergency management.