Could 2026 Be a Year With No Atlantic Hurricanes? We've Surprisingly Passed Their Peak Month Without Any, Thanks to the El Niño

Hurricanes usually wreak havoc in the Atlantic Ocean from June through November. But four months into this year’s season, we haven’t seen a storm escalate into a hurricane—and may not at all. That’s likely thanks to the “super” El Niño, which seems to be suppressing cyclones in the Atlantic while fueling them in the Pacific Ocean.

A hurricane-free September is surprising because the 10th of the month is statistically the peak of Atlantic hurricane season. This marks the first time in more than 30 years that the month has passed without one of these powerful storms. According to modern records stretching back to 1950, they have occurred only in 1994, 1972 and 1962, Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert at Colorado State University, tells Chris Dolce at CNN.

In recent decades, each Atlantic hurricane season has averaged seven of these storms. Just two documented seasons—1914 and 1907—went by without any. However, experts note that early weather records are unreliable given the lack of monitoring via satellites or aircraft at the time.

Weather watchers could have missed hurricanes in more remote parts of the ocean. So, what does the growing El Niño have to do with all of this? The natural, cyclical climate pattern warms ocean waters in the Pacific, which in turn impacts the global climate in myriad ways.

In the North Atlantic, it typically increases wind shear—changes in wind speed or direction in the atmosphere. These winds rip apart storms, stopping them from growing into hurricanes. Since this summer, the shear has been record-strong over parts of the Atlantic where hurricanes often form, Klotzbach tells CNN.

At the same time, warmer ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific allow more hurricanes to form there. The elevated water temperature heats the air above it, fueling more of these cyclones, writes meteorologist Matthew Cappucci for the Washington Post. As of October 1, the Pacific has experienced 20 named storms, including three hurricanes classified as Category 5—the most intense kind, with wind speeds of at least 157 miles per hour, per CNN.