EnergyData brief
2026's first hurricane is already 25 days later than any since 1950
In 76 seasons the first Atlantic hurricane never came after Sept 11; as of Oct 6, 2026 there still has not been one.
Tec N Trend data desk · 1 min read · 2 open sources
- Median first hurricane, 1950-2025
- Aug 2
- Previous latest first hurricane
- Sep 11 (2002, 2013, 1984)
- 2026 status (Oct 6)
- none yet, 25 days past that record
- Seasons whose first hurricane came in Sept or later
- 6 of 76
Ars Technica reports that the 2026 Atlantic season has not yet produced a hurricane, a first for the modern record, with a strengthening El Niño adding wind shear that suppresses storms. A system in the Gulf of Mexico might become one this week.
HURDAT2, NOAA's storm archive, lets us date the first hurricane of every season from 1950 to 2025. The typical first hurricane (median) arrives on Aug 2. The latest ever was September 11, reached in 2002, 2013 and 1984. Only 6 of 76 seasons waited until September for their first. The story's date, October 6, 2026, is already 25 days past that record.
Any hurricane that does form now will extend the record by the day. The window is closing, since most hurricanes form between mid-August and mid-October, but warm Gulf water means a late one can still be strong.
Data, method and caveats
- NOAA NHC HURDAT2 Atlantic best-track 1851-2025 (hurdat2-1851-2025-092326.txt) public domain (US government) · captured 2026-10-07
- Ars Technica, 2026 season status news report, facts only · captured 2026-10-07
- A season's first hurricane is the earliest HURDAT2 record with status HU, in any storm, dated by UTC calendar date; all dates are plotted on a common calendar year (2000) so seasons line up.
- The 2026 point is a placeholder at Oct 6, the story date, not a hurricane; HURDAT2 holds no 2026 data yet. Per Ars, the first hurricane could still form.
- Before the satellite era (about 1966) some hurricanes were missed, so early-season dates for the 1950s and early 1960s may be a little late.
- Our dataset starts in 1950, matching the aircraft-reconnaissance era the Ars story calls the modern record.
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