GTA 6 has hurricanes: 170+ animals and a map twice the size of GTA 5's
Grand Theft Auto VI does have hurricanes. Game Informer's issue 382 cover story, published on September 29, 2026, confirms that tropical storms and hurricanes hit Leonida, that the re-engineered weather system is local and persistent, and that the game holds more than 170 animal species — over 60 types of birds and more than 30 land mammals. Rockstar's Aaron Garbut tells the magazine the map is ab
Yes, GTA 6 has hurricanes
Grand Theft Auto VI will have hurricanes and tropical storms. Game Informer's 14-page cover story, published in issue 382 on September 29, 2026, is the first Rockstar-sanctioned source to say so: VGC, VICE and RockstarINTEL all lead with the same confirmation on the day the digital issue went live. Until now Rockstar had never named a single weather event in Leonida, its version of Florida, and "hurricanes" had sat in the rumour column since 2021.
A weather system that is local, persistent, and keeps its rain
Rockstar re-engineered the system instead of reusing Red Dead Redemption 2's, VGC reports. Owen Shepherd, the studio's vice president of art for lighting and rendering, tells Game Informer the weather is now "much more localized and persistent", so a player can stand under clear skies while rain falls a short distance away. Rain leaves rainbows, puddles that linger and wet surfaces that stay wet long after the storm has moved on.
Inside a storm, the same quote describes "heavy clouds, strong winds, dense atmospherics, and a lot of rain combine so that everything is dripping wet", with water gushing off roof edges and lampposts and lightning lighting up the clouds. A second, separate wind system adds "offshore breezes after sunset, convectional updrafts, and occlusion from buildings", which move hair and rooftop debris, ripple water surfaces and bend swamp grass, per VGC and GTA Intel.
What the cover story does not say
Frequency is an open question. Neither Shepherd nor the magazine says how often hurricanes arrive, whether they change missions or the story, whether severe weather is seasonal, or whether tornadoes and flooding are in at all — GTA Intel notes that only tropical storms and hurricanes are named. Rockstar also keeps the rarest animals to itself: RockstarINTEL and Dexerto report that certain species are sorted into Rare, Discoverable and Legendary tiers and can be tracked, without listing which animals sit in which tier.
More than 170 species, against Red Dead 2's 200 and the 30 fans had counted
Leonida holds more than 170 animal species, Game Informer reports: over 60 types of birds and more than 30 land mammals, plus fish and reptiles (VICE, Insider Gaming). Rockstar names manatees, flamingos, pelicans and alligators, and lists whales, several kinds of shark, rays, turtles, jellyfish, iguanas and macaques. Fur and feathers got dedicated simulation work — coats can turn wet, dirty or matted — and some creatures are described as iridescent, translucent or bioluminescent, per VICE.
That figure does not contradict the community count. Our own dossier on August 31, 2026 tallied a little over 30 species identified across the trailers, the official screenshots and the Netflix Extended Look. Campaign footage shows what Rockstar chose to film; 170-plus is the number the studio says it built. For scale, Red Dead Redemption 2 was sold in September 2018 on "around 200 species of animals, birds and fish" — GTA VI reaches roughly 85 percent of that roster in a game set largely in a city.
"Twice the size of GTA 5" — with no figure in km²
Art director Aaron Garbut tells Game Informer that Leonida is Rockstar's biggest map yet "by some degree" and about twice the size of GTA 5's, with more detail, density, interaction and interiors, VGC reports. He gives no square miles and no square kilometres, so any surface figure in circulation is imported rather than stated by Rockstar.
Beebom's reconstruction is the clearest attempt: working from the commonly cited 75 to 80 km² for GTA 5's Los Santos and 78 to 85 km² for Red Dead Redemption 2, the site lands on roughly 160 to 170 km² for Leonida including water. Treat that as an estimate — Rockstar has published no measurement of its own, and "twice" does not say whether shorelines and open ocean are counted.
Six regions, from Vice City to Mount Kalaga
The state is split into six regions, per VGC: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park. Vice City is the Miami-styled urban centre, Grassrivers the Everglades-style wetland, Port Gellhorn a faded tourist coast, Ambrosia the industrial heartland with a biker gang, and Mount Kalaga a wildlife-focused northern park drawing on the Florida-Georgia border. RockstarINTEL adds ATV trails, mud parks, demolition derbies, motocross, farms, ranches and abandoned tourist attractions to the map's contents list.
Ten activities, and the two surprises
Ten side activities are confirmed: base jumping, billiards, gyms, kayaking, mini golf, scuba diving, street and off-road racing, visiting zoos, air boating and jet skiing (VICE, VGC, RockstarINTEL). GTA Intel flags zoos and mini golf as the two nobody saw coming, and notes that some activities double as dates for Jason and Lucia, hiking among them. The list is what Rockstar chose to name, not a complete count — the same caveat that has applied to every Leonida feature announced so far.
A five-year rumour that ended on September 29
Hurricanes have circulated since 2021, when an unverified account claimed GTA VI would feature hurricanes and alligators (Vice City Hustle). Three days before the issue landed, the same site was still writing that hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding "remain RUMOR" and that "anyone calling them confirmed today is guessing". That was the fair position to hold on September 26: Game Informer's own cover tease never used the word. It took the 14 pages to close the gap, 51 days before the November 19, 2026 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
