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Atlantic Hurricane Season Reaches Record Late Date for First Hurricane

The Atlantic hurricane season has officially set a new record for the latest first hurricane formation since modern satellite tracking began in 1966.

News AutomationCompiled 05:06 UTC · 1 min read

A satellite image shows clear skies over the Atlantic Ocean, indicating a lack of storm activity. · Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

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Atlantic goes without a hurricane through Sept. 12, breaking 60-year record

The Atlantic has never gone this late without a hurricane since modern satellite tracking began in 1966.

By Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather meteorologist

Published Sep 10, 2026 8:24 AM EDT

Updated Sep 12, 2026 8:34 PM EDT

Bernie Rayno breaks down the latest on the tropics, including a record that may be broken in the coming days.

For decades, satellites have watched nearly every swirl of clouds over the Atlantic. In this modern era of storm tracking, the basin has set a record for the latest first hurricane of the season. Since no hurricane has formed by Sept. 12, it marks the latest date without a hurricane in the satellite era, which began in 1966.

Before the start of the satellite era, storms far from land and passing ships could have been missed, meaning that tropical statistics in prior years may be incomplete.

Looking back before 1966 yields two additional milestones from 1941. In the National Hurricane Center's original report, an unnamed storm in 1941 reached hurricane status on Sept. 19, the first of the season. However, reanalysis later determined that it didn't reach hurricane strength until Sept. 21. If there are no hurricanes this year before Sept. 22, the 2026 season will break that record as well.

If this year's Atlantic season has no hurricanes by Nov. 30, that will be only the third such season on record, preceded by 1914 and 1907.

With the peak of hurricane season on average on Sept. 10, it's unusual not to have a hurricane spinning on that date, but it also happened in 2024 and 2025. Since the basin didn't have a hurricane by the end of Sept. 10, it made three years in a row, something that hasn't happened since the four-year streak in 2013-2016.

Labor Day 2026 passed with no hurricanes or tropical storms in the Atlantic for the third year in a row. The last time that happened was 1937-1939.

AccuWeather hurricane experts say a strengthening El Niño may limit opportunities for tropical storms to become hurricanes, setting the stage for this historic hurricane drought.