Why the 2026 Hurricane Season Might Not Be That Bad
Atlantic hurricane season is almost upon us and the early signs indicate it might be less active than usual. But that’s no reason to delete your weather app and ignore the forecast. The National Ocean
Atlantic hurricane season is almost upon us and the early signs indicate it might be less active than usual. But that’s no reason to delete your weather app and ignore the forecast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting eight to 14 named tropical systems, of which three to six will become hurricanes and one to three will be Category 3 or higher.
“What’s driving this forecast is largely an El Niño event,” said NOAA administrator Neil Jacobs. Characterized by a tongue of hot water stretching across the Pacific, El Niño is likely to emerge this summer. That stretch of warm ocean rearranges weather patterns around the world. In the case of the tropical Atlantic, El Niño stirs up winds that make it hard for hurricanes to spin up. Those that do can sometimes be torn apart by what’s going on in the upper atmosphere. (The opposite is true in the Pacific, and NOAA is predicting a very active season in that ocean basin.) During the three past super El Niños, accumulated cyclone energy—a metric that factors in storms’ strength and longevity—was well below normal. That said, El Niño, even an extremely strong one, is only one of many factors that impact hurricane season. Hot local ocean temperatures can help storms form and gain strength, and the Atlantic is currently warmer than normal. At the same time, Sahara dust can gum up the atmosphere and inhibit storms from forming. It’s also notoriously hard to predict when plumes of it will kick up. That’s what happened last year, when a below-average number of named storms formed despite an active forecast. Despite the lower-than-expected activity, last year still spawned Hurricane Melissa , one of the strongest storms to ever make landfall in the Atlantic basin.
Key points
- “What’s driving this forecast is largely an El Niño event,” said NOAA administrator Neil Jacobs.
- Characterized by a tongue of hot water stretching across the Pacific, El Niño is likely to emerge this summer.
- That stretch of warm ocean rearranges weather patterns around the world.
- In the case of the tropical Atlantic, El Niño stirs up winds that make it hard for hurricanes to spin up.
- Those that do can sometimes be torn apart by what’s going on in the upper atmosphere.
This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by Wired.
