Hurricane Season ’26: Here Are Storm Names For Weather’s Most Powerful Force

The Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane naming lists follow a six-year rotation, as new names are introduced whenever a storm is retired because of its significant impact.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially starts May 15, while the Atlantic season begins June 1. Each season ends Nov. 30 every year.

Names are assigned in alphabetical order, starting with the letter A on each basin list. (RELATED: New York City Suburbs Rattled By Rare Magnitude 2.3 Earthquake)

The Atlantic list contains 21 names, while the Eastern Pacific list includes 24 names.

Every six years, names are reused, so any names from the 2020 season that were not retired will be used again in 2026.

A retirement for a hurricane name is decided when the storm it was assigned to causes extreme loss of life or widespread destruction, making future use of that name insensitive, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

When a name is retired, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) selects a replacement.

Following Hurricane Laura (Category 4) making landfall around Cameron, Louisiana back in Aug. 2020, that name was retired from the Atlantic list. (RELATED: East Coast Becomes Target Of 1,000-Mile Severe Weather Threat After Life-Threatening Tornado Risk In Heartland)

The name Leah has been chosen to replace Laura.

The Eastern Pacific naming list is unchanged from the 2020 season.

2026 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON NAMING LIST

Arthur starts the list off for the Atlantic hurricane season in 2026, while Wilfred concludes the list, per the NHC. Here are the names along with their pronunciations:

• Arthur (AR-thur)
• Bertha (BUR-thuh)
• Cristobal (krees-TOH-bahl)
• Dolly (DAH-lee)
• Edouard (eh-DWARD)
• Fay (fay)
• Gonzalo (gohn-SAH-loh)
• Hanna (HAN-uh)
• Isaias (ees-ah-EE-ahs)
• Josephine (JOH-seh-feen)
• Kyle (KY-ull)
• Leah (LEE-ah)
• Marco (MAR-koe)
• Nana (NA-na)
• Omar (OH-mar)
• Paulette (pawl-LET)
• Rene (re-NAY)
• Sally (SAL-ee)
• Teddy (TEHD-ee)
• Vicky (VIH-kee)
• Wilfred (WILL-fred)

2026 EASTERN PACIFIC HURRICANE SEASON NAMING LIST

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season opens with Amanda and closes with Zeke. Below are the names along with their pronunciations:

• Amanda (uh-MAN-duh)
• Boris (bor-EES)
• Cristina (kris-TEE-nuh)
• Douglas (DUG-luss)
• Elida (ELL-ee-dah)
• Fausto (FOW-sto)
• Genevieve (jeh-nuh-VEEV)
• Hernan (her-NAHN)
• Iselle (ee-SELL)
• Julio (HOO-lee-o)
• Karina (kuh-REE-nuh)
• Lowell (LO-uhl)
• Marie (muh-REE)
• Norbert (NOR-bert)
• Odalys (oh-DAL-ess)
• Polo (POH-loh)
• Rachel (RAY-chull)
• Simon (SY-muhn)
• Trudy (TROO-dee)
• Vance (vanss)
• Winnie (WIN-ee)
• Xavier (ZAY-vee-ur)
• Yolanda (yo-LAHN-da)
• Zeke (zeek)