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.”