2026 Atlantic Hurricane Names: What Storms Will Be Called This Season

Ahead of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration on Wednesday released the list of names that will be given to tropical storms and hurricanes. The season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

(See full list below.)

A developing El Niño will largely shape the 2026 season, and is one reason the number of storms could be near to below historical averages, AccuWeather.com said in its hurricane season forecast.

AccuWeather is predicting 11 to 16 named storms, including four to seven hurricanes and two to four major hurricanes, which are Category 3 or higher in strength. The private weather service also expects three to five direct impacts on the United States during the season.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

After several years of storms that caused widespread flooding, wind damage and fatalities in Florida, 2025 brought a quiet season to the state with no storms making landfall.

The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season wavered between periods of relative calm and bursts of intense activity, generating very powerful storms, NOAA said.

"For the first time in a decade, not a single hurricane struck the U.S. this season, and that was a much needed break,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, in November 2025. "Still, a tropical storm caused damage and casualties in the Carolinas, distant hurricanes created rough ocean waters that caused property damage along the East Coast, and neighboring countries experienced direct hits from hurricanes."

The storm names for this year are:

• Arthur
• Bertha
• Cristobal
• Dolly
• Edouard
• Fay
• Gonzalo
• Hanna
• Isaias
• Josephine
• Kyle
• Leah
• Marco
• Nana
• Omar
• Paulette
• Rene
• Sally
• Teddy
• Vicky
• Wilfred

NOAA has a list of six years of names, which are used in rotation and re-cycled every six years, so the 2023 list will be used again in 2029.

But, if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name for a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity, it is dropped from future lists.

In this decade these ninestorm names have been retired:

• Laura
• Eta
• Iota
• Ida
• Fiona
• Ian
• Beryl
• Helene
• Milton

In the event that more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, any additional storms will take names from an alternate list of names approved by the WMO.