Since 1851 until the end of the hurricane season in 2021, 140 hurricanes had hit the Dominican Republic, either directly or indirectly. August and September are the months with the highest hurricane activity in the Caribbean country, each with more than 50 hurricanes recorded during this period. The hurricane season in the Atlantic goes from June 1 through November 30, but it can get extended to May and December in rare occasions, with only five cyclones hitting the Dominican Republic on those months in 170 years.

Between 1980 and 2019, there were 67 tropical cyclones recorded in the Caribbean, the majority of which were tropical storms. During the period, only 4.5 percent of the occurrences were category five hurricanes. On the Saffir-Simpson scale, a category five hurricane is a storm that has 1-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds of 254 km/h or more at 10 meters above ground.

According to their physical exposure to tropical cyclones, the Dominican Republic and Haiti were the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean which faced the highest hazard to this type of storms in 2025. The risk index is calculated based on the estimated number of people exposed to tropical cyclones per year. Saint Kitts and Nevis also stood high in the ranking, with a hazard and exposure index of 8.6 points.