The review/resource doesn’t stop at definition. It links landfall time to:

While this moment marks a precise meteorological event, the storm's actual impact usually begins hours or even days before the eye ever touches land. The Technical Definition of Landfall

Understanding the precise definition of landfall is important for safety reasons. Many people mistakenly believe that if the news says "landfall is in two hours," they still have two hours to prepare or evacuate. In reality, by the time landfall occurs, conditions on the ground are usually at their worst.

: For a storm to officially "make landfall," the dead center of the eye must move from water onto land.

There are two common misconceptions about landfall:

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a hurricane makes landfall when the center of the storm’s circulation (the eye) crosses the coastline.

When a hurricane is approaching, "landfall" is the milestone everyone tracks. However, a hurricane officially .

To visualize the process, here is the typical timeline for a hurricane approaching a coast:

Cases like Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Ian (2022) show how landfall timing affects evacuation decisions, surge impact, and media reporting. Seeing the actual NOAA advisory timestamps drives the point home.

Tropical Cyclone Structure. ... Detailed loop of Hurricane Irma on September 6, 2017. ... Detailed loop of Hurricane Irma on Septe... NOAA (.gov) Hurricane Glossary Hurricane Eye Landfall. When the eye, or physical center of the hurricane, reaches the coastline from the hurricane's approach ove... www.weready.org Landfall - Wikipedia Tropical cyclone. ... This is where most of the damage occurs within a mature tropical cyclone, such as a typhoon or hurricane, as... Wikipedia A Guide to Hurricane Terminology - StormGeo Mar 30, 2020 —

5/5 – Essential clarity on a life-saving definition.