What are the 2026 Atlantic hurricane names?

 

Photo Credit: NOAA

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season officially gets underway on June 1. The list of names for the season has already been released.

The list of hurricane names is on a six-year cycle that is reused every sixth year. For example, this season's list was last used in 2020 and is the same list minus any names that were retired. Tropical storm and hurricane names are "retired" by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for being either deadly or very damaging.

The busy 2020 season had three names retired: “Laura,” “Eta” and “Iota.”  The last two were Greek-letter names that were used after the original 21-name list was used up. The name “Laura” was replaced by Leah.  Following the 2020 season, the WMO stopped using the Greek alphabet to name storms after 21.  They now use a second list of 21 names should it be needed during an exceptionally busy hurricane season. Despite there being three Category 5 hurricanes last season, only one was retired, “Melissa.”  That name has been replaced with “Molly” when the 2025 list is used again in 2031.

Tropical storms and hurricanes were given female names starting in 1953. That changed in 1979 when men’s names were added. Tropical systems originally began getting names to minimize confusion if more than two storms were to occur concurrently.

One of the more frequently used names is "Chris," which has been used every six years since 1982. “Chris” has never been a very destructive or deadly storm, so it's been reused whenever it's turn in the rotation comes again. The most intense version of "Chris" came in 2012 when it became a Category 2 storm over the open Atlantic with sustained winds of 105 mph. The last time “Chris” was on the list in 2024, it was a short-lived and weak tropical storm that was named shortly before its landfall in Mexico.

An average Atlantic hurricane season features 14 named storms, of which 7 become hurricanes with 3 "major" hurricanes - Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale with sustained winds of at least 111 mph. The first named storm of 2026 will be “Arthur.”

May in the nation’s capital

 

Stellar May conditions

May has gotten off to a cool start in the nation’s capital following an unusually warm and dry March and April. May is the third and final month of "meteorological" spring and often feels like summer by the end of the month.

Average daily temperatures in May rise appreciably from a high/low of 73°/54° on May 1 to 80°/63° by the end of the month. DC’s hottest May temperature on record of 99° occurred on May 31, 1991. Meanwhile, DC’s coldest May temperature of 33° occurred long ago on May 11, 1906. 

DC’s May weather can be quite streaky. For example, four of DC’s 10 warmest May’s have happened since 2012. By comparison, four of the last six May’s have been cooler than average. May 2025 didn’t feature any 90-degree heat for the second time in the last three years.

May is DC’s third wettest month of the year according to NOAA, with an average monthly rainfall total of 3.94”. Rain can accumulate quickly this time of year. For instance, May 2008 was DC’s third wettest with 10.66” of rain. It had an incredible total of five days with an inch or more of rain. Last May was DC’s ninth wettest with 7.73”.

May is frequently an active severe weather month in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia). On several dates a trace of snowfall (enough to accumulate, but not enough to measure) has occurred. However, it isn’t actually snow this time of year, but hail. For example, on May 2, 2016, a severe weather outbreak produced a lot of hail around the nation’s capital. Small accumulations of hail were reported in spots such as National Airport where a “trace” of frozen precipitation was observed.

Although summer doesn’t officially arrive until June, May often features summer-like heat. The nation’s capital has averaged between one and two May days with highs in the 90s over the last 30 years, according to NOAA. DC residents can also expect to see a high of at least 95° roughly once every five years, with the last such time being a high of 96° on May 31, 2022.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects May 2026 to feature near to below average temperatures with average rainfall in the nation’s capital. Even average May temperatures would prevent the three-month period of March, April and May from finishing among DC’s warmest “meteorological” springs.