2026 Atlantic hurricane season
| 2026 Atlantic hurricane season | |
|---|---|
| Seasonal boundaries | |
| First system formed | Season not started |
| Last system dissipated | Season not started |
| Seasonal statistics | |
| Total fatalities | Unknown |
| Total damage | Unknown |
| Related articles | |
The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season event in the Northern Hemisphere. The season will officially begin on June 1, 2026, and end on November 30, 2026. These dates, adopted by convention, historically describe the period in each year when most subtropical or tropical cyclogenesis occurs in the Atlantic Ocean (over 97%). The National Hurricane Center (NHC) will begin issuing regular Tropical Weather Outlooks on May 15, 2026, about two weeks prior to the start of the season.
Seasonal forecasts
| Source | Date | Named storms |
Hurricanes | Major hurricanes |
Ref |
| Average (1991–2020) | 14.4 | 7.2 | 3.2 | [1] | |
| Record high activity | 30 | 15 | 7† | [2] | |
| Record low activity | 1 | 0† | 0† | [2] | |
| TSR | December 11, 2025 | 14 | 7 | 3 | [3] |
| Actual activity | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| * June–November only † Most recent of several such occurrences. (See all) | |||||
In advance of, and during, each hurricane season, several forecasts of hurricane activity are issued by national meteorological services, scientific agencies, and noted hurricane experts. These include forecasters from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Climate Prediction Center, Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), the United Kingdom's Met Office, and Colorado State University (CSU). The forecasts include weekly and monthly changes in significant factors that help determine the amount of tropical storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes within a particular season.
According to NOAA and CSU, the average hurricane season between 1991 and 2020 contained about 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes (Category 3 and higher), as well as a median accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index of 71.04–123.14 units.[4] Broadly speaking, ACE is the measure of the power of a tropical or subtropical cyclone multiplied by the length of time it existed. ACE is only calculated for full advisories on specific tropical or subtropical cyclones reaching wind speeds of 39 mph (63 km/h) or higher. NOAA typically describes a season as above-average, average, or below-average depending on the cumulative ACE index, but the number of tropical storms, hurricanes or major hurricanes can also be considered.
Pre-season forecasts
On December 11, 2025, TSR released their first forecast for the season. They expected a near-normal season, with 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, 3 major hurricanes, and an ACE index of 125 units, close to the thirty-year average. They noted historically low certainty in this forecast, with the main factors being potentially moderate El Niño conditions arising in mid to late summer 2026, along with a reasonable certainty of warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for the season.[3]
Storm names
The following list of names will be used for storms that form in the Atlantic basin during 2026. This was the same list used in the 2020 season with the exception of Leah, which replaced Laura.[5]
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Season effects
The following is a table which will include all of the storms that form in the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. It will include their duration, names, intensities, areas affected, damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but were still related to that storm. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low, and all of the damage figures will be in 2026 USD.
| Saffir–Simpson scale | ||||||
| TD | TS | C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | C5 |
| Storm name |
Dates active | Storm category at peak intensity |
Max 1-min wind mph (km/h) |
Min. press. (mbar) |
Areas affected | Damage (US$) |
Deaths | Ref(s). | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season aggregates | ||||||||||
| 0 systems | Season not started | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
See also
- Tropical cyclones in 2026
- 2026 Pacific hurricane season
- 2026 Pacific typhoon season
- 2026 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- South-West Indian Ocean cyclone seasons: 2025–26, 2026–27
- Australian region cyclone seasons: 2025–26
- South Pacific cyclone seasons: 2025–26
References
- ^ "Background Information: North Atlantic Hurricane Season". College Park, Maryland: Climate Prediction Center. April 9, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
- ^ a b "North Atlantic Ocean Historical Tropical Cyclone Statistics". Fort Collins, Colorado: Colorado State University. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ a b Wood, Nick (December 11, 2025). "Extended Range Forecast for North Atlantic Hurricane Activity in 2026" (PDF). Tropical Storm Risk. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
- ^ "BACKGROUND INFORMATION: NORTH ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON". NOAA CPC. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ Erdman, Jonathan (May 29, 2021). "Laura, Dorian, Entire Greek Alphabet Retired Following 2019, 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Seasons". The Weather Channel. Retrieved December 22, 2025.