It's been a summer of flooding across the U.S. — but one thing it hasn't been, at least so far, is a summer of Atlantic hurricanes.
It's been a summer of flooding across the U.S. — but one thing it hasn't been, at least so far, is a summer of Atlantic hurricanes.
We're just days away from the climatological peak of Atlantic hurricane season, and remarkably, a hurricane has yet to form. There have been five named tropical storms, the latest being Edouard, which made landfall in southwestern Louisiana before moving into Texas, bringing another threat of heavy rain and flooding.
Of course, there's no such thing as a perfectly "normal" hurricane season, but by early September we'd typically have seen about seven named storms and two hurricanes. As of early September 2026: five named storms and zero hurricanes. Even more striking, overall Atlantic tropical cyclone activity — measured by ACE — is running almost 90% below normal.
One likely player is the developing El Niño in the Pacific, strengthening upper-level winds over parts of the tropical Atlantic, increasing wind shear that can disrupt developing tropical organization.
Meanwhile, the eastern Pacific has been considerably busier: 13 named storms have already formed there this season.
So far, it's a classic hurricane-season contrast: a surprisingly quiet Atlantic and a much busier Pacific.
But either way, it only takes one to end up being devastating in the end.
