The Eyewall

Everything you need to know about the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season

June 2, 2026 at 7:45 amJune 2, 2026 at 7:45 am by Eric Berger

In brief: Well, here we are. The start of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season. We are cross-posting Eric’s post from Space City Weather (with some minor broad edits for this audience from Matt) yesterday that attempts to give you the information you need about what to expect and how to prepare, without raising your anxiety too much. A little preparation now will go a long way if the worst happens.

Hurricane season forecast

We do not put a whole lot of stock in seasonal hurricane forecasting. It can provide a general sense of what is likely to happen, but there is no precision in the details that matter. For example, what we really want to know is whether there will be a lot of active storms in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, or off the East Coast, not the central Atlantic Ocean. And since we remain a couple of months away from the ‘peak’ of hurricane season we just cannot know these details.

Seasonal forecasts for the Atlantic basin in 2026. Click to enlarge. (Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Colorado State University)

With that said, the general consensus from hurricane season forecasts is that we should see activity levels below normal this year across the Atlantic basin. For example, the average number of named storms is about 14 per season, and this year the most likely range of named storms is between 8 and 14, according to NOAA. The average number of hurricanes is 7, and the expected range is 3 to 6. So this is good news, because fewer storms overall mean fewer “shots on goal” when it comes to striking the coast.

The reason for all of this is that El Niño is has developed, and it will likely continue to strengthen during the key August and September months. This should help to suppress Atlantic storm activity by increasing wind shear. There are other reasons as well, but the takeaway message here is that instead of seeing a blockbuster season, we are likely to see a quieter one. But a quieter season for the entire Atlantic does not mean a quiet season for Texas or Long Island or Florida if one or two storms threaten the coast. So as ever, we will remain vigilant here at The Eyewall.

What you should do to prepare

The most important piece of advice we can give you is to have a plan for what to do if a storm threatens. If you have a plan, then you’ll sleep better and night, and be prepared to put it into action. And this is important, because when a hurricane legitimately does threaten the Houston region, people lose their minds. You don’t want to lose your mind. We have a page on The Eyewall’s website that links to dozens of local preparedness pages on the coast. Use these pages to help build your kit, develop your plan, and determine your evacuation protocols.

And that is critical. The key question you need to decide is under what circumstances you will evacuate. An important factor in all of this is how close you live to the coast. For example, in Houston, the Houston-Galveston Area Council has some excellent resources to help you prepare at this website. Among them is a “zip-zone” map that helps homeowners identify their vulnerability to different levels of storm surge. This is also how evacuations will be called, by zip codes.

Evacuation zones by area: purple (coastal), yellow (A), green (B), and orange (C). (HGAC)

Most other local jurisdictions (many linked above) also have maps such as this. There are other determinants for whether one should evacuate. You run from the water and hide from the wind. So, wind alone is not a consideration for most people. But those winds can frequently lead to extended power outages. If you have someone in your home with a medical condition that requires electricity for support, then you definitely will still want to consider evacuation if a hurricane threatens.

For those planning to stay during most storms, here is an example of a good disaster kit checklist. A lot of this is common sense: what supplies would you need to remain in your home for several days, without power, and without access to outside resources? Also please don’t forget about pets, whether you’re staying or evacuating. It’s also good idea to check on neighbors. One of the only silver linings of a hurricane, I have found, is that it tends to bring neighbors and neighborhoods together.

The climatology of hurricane season, showing the peak from mid-August through mid-October. (NOAA NHC)

A final word. Hurricane season is a long slog, not a sprint. Because of the nature of storms, you don’t need to be at Defcon 1 from June 1 through November 30. Yes, stronger storms can occur sometimes in July, but the main time to watch is August through October. It’s very easy (and understandable!) to get worked up throughout the course of the season, but you need to pace yourself as you would a marathon.

How to find our coverage

As usual, we will have full coverage here of all storms. Really important note: For those of you in Houston, Space City Weather will remain our *primary* source for all storm info for the Texas and western Louisiana coasts. We will likely cross post to both sites during storm threats to the Houston region. You can also visit the sites and find the “subscribe” box to sign up for emails whenever we post updates.

How can we do this?

We do this because we love weather and we love ensuring people have good quality information. Seriously, over the last decade Space City Weather has become an important part of the Houston community’s fabric, and we take our responsibilities seriously. The Eyewall has been building a unique audience of its own. We’re here for the long haul and appreciate that our readers are so faithful to the sites.

Eric speaks at Space City Weather’s Fall Day in 2025.

And much we owe to you, the reader. To the extent we have grown, it has been through word of mouth. We have never advertised the sites. Rather, our growth has been entirely by word of mouth, with readers telling others about us, or sharing our activity on social media. We are grateful for that. Thank you!

Social media

As for social media, we do try to reach readers where they are. Here are a list of the places you can find us, and where you can find links to every update we do:

One final thing to note this year: We are trying to do more social media videos. If you follow us on IG or TikTok, you may have periodically seen our forecast videos. We try to do one or two a week at Space City Weather now more regularly to keep people informed. We don’t want to overwhelm you with content, but when something needs to be said, we’ll say it. So be sure and check us out there if you’re a video-first type person.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll have another update this week!

Rainfall focus shifts from Texas to the eastern Gulf, as we gear up to cover the 2026 hurricane season

May 27, 2026 at 6:31 amMay 27, 2026 at 6:31 am by Matt Lanza

In brief: We have our first tropics themed forecast post of the season today, as heavy rainfall in the Southeast may also have some lower-end tropical entanglement to watch. We also discuss the coverage plan for the season and some other weatherly tidbits.

The Eyewall in 2026

Happy Wednesday. We’re getting closer to hurricane season, which is usually when the pace of our posts increases! My apologies to your inbox. Anyway, our plan for this coming season is much like it has been the last few seasons of The Eyewall: We will post every day or two and more frequently when storms are threatening. There may be times where we have to take a few extra days off, as we’re both navigating life! But as always, all of our posts will be public facing and freely available, and we will keep comments open to all this season. We will continue to post both on Substack and The Eyewall’s website, so readers can pick the source best for them. We certainly would love for you to subscribe to our Substack, as it is our way of being able to send out emailed posts en masse and also offers a way to support our work. Paying members support our work for all, but we will hopefully put at least something together unique for you as well at some point later this year, be it a live chat, AMA, or something else. Your support and generosity are greatly appreciated. With my eventual relocation from Houston to the Northeast, I will also probably be including a few more Northeast Corridor related nuggets in here too.

Severe Weather: Not entirely dormant

We’re actually likely heading into a period of somewhat calmer conditions over the coming days, as severe weather risks focus mostly on localized areas from time to time.

The days 4 to 8 severe weather outlook is rather uneventful. (Pivotal Weather)

Again, that’s not to say severe weather won’t happen. It probably will. It’s May, and we’re heading into June. However, any sort of large scale, significant or long-duration events don’t seem likely to crop up anytime soon. It will be stormy in spots, however, including today in the Mid-Atlantic where a slight risk (level 2/5) is in place.

Today’s severe weather risk includes DC, Richmond, and Delmarva. (NOAA SPC)

Flooding chances: Watching the Southeast

And that dovetails into our flooding conversation. It does look quite wet over the next 7 to 10 days or so in the South.

Forecast rain from the NWS over the next 7 days. (Pivotal Weather)

Texas has seen a good deal of rain over the last 7 to 10 days, and while storms will continue to pester the state at times, the better chances will probably shift into the Panhandle and New Mexico as we go into next week. We’ll probably have to start watching some of the burn scars in New Mexico for flash flooding potential.

However, the Southeast is where the focus will now be for the most heavy rain and flooding potential. Precip over the next 2 weeks is expected to average well above normal in Florida and along the eastern Gulf Coast.

While these areas have been dry, obviously when you start talking about isolated pockets of 4 to 8 inches of rain, even over a 10-to-14-day period, that’s a lot and can lead to flooding risk.

Tropics: Something weak in the Gulf stirring in early June? If you squint.

And that dovetails into our tropics conversation. Hurricane season begins on Monday, if you were not aware. We don’t currently see any real threats at this point. That said, within this funnel of moisture aimed at Florida and the Southeast and Gulf Coast, we may begin to see the risk of a disturbance forming by accident in the Gulf.

A very, very small number of European ensemble members indicate that something could attempt to form within this otherwise rainy pattern in the eastern Gulf over the next 2 weeks. (Google Weather Lab)

What does that mean? We’re heading into June, so we’re not talking about anything aesthetically pleasing or textbook here. Early season systems tend to be weak and sloppy but moisture laden. And they often form in the Gulf. With all this moisture being directed south to north across the Gulf, there will inevitably be a disturbance or two in the flow. When that happens, you may briefly open a window for tropical development. Right now, odds favor that *not* happening, but I just want to plant the seed, a.) because again, to emphasize, early season systems are not usually strong and b.) this is definitely a high moisture pattern capable of producing flooding.

Early June Atlantic tropical activity usually forms in the eastern Gulf, far northwest Caribbean or off the Florida coast. (NOAA NHC)

When could this happen? Later next week or weekend. Based on the map from the European ensemble shown near the top of this section, that seems to be the timeframe we may be looking at. Notably, AI modeling, both from the European Centre and from Google show nothing really.

What should happen, regardless, is a pickup in early season activity in the Eastern Pacific, however. Models hint at some activity there.

The East Pacific is quite warm and should become more hospitable toward tropical development over the next few weeks. (Weathernerds.org)

So, do you need to worry about a Gulf system? No, but you should be monitoring rainfall forecasts over the next 10 days in Florida and along the eastern Gulf Coast. More to come!

2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season in review: Part III, Humberto through Melissa

May 20, 2026 at 8:30 amMay 19, 2026 at 9:47 pm by Matt Lanza

In brief: Our 2025 Atlantic hurricane season recap concludes with part 3, taking us from the delicate ballet between Humberto and Imelda through the season finale with Melissa.

Part one of the season synopsis can be found here.
Part two of the season synopsis can be found here.

Hurricane Humberto (September 24-October 1) & Hurricane Imelda (September 28-October 2)

It would be tough to separate out Humberto and Imelda, as they were both quite literally intertwined with one another during their life cycles.

Humberto

Humberto’s life cycle began on September 24th, forming as a tropical storm in the morning. Even early on, it was apparent that Imelda and Humberto may interact with one another at some point during their life cycle.

About 36 hours after forming, Humberto had become a formidable tropical storm with 70 mph winds. Humberto basically stalled out for about a day and maintained intensity before slowly resuming its track. Once it did this, Humberto exploded, tapping into abnormally warm ocean temperatures and revving up from a strong tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in less than 2 days. The Atlantic subtropics were near record warm for that time of year, meaning Humberto had copious amounts of warm water to feast on. Humberto reached peak intensity on September 27th, settling in around 160 mph for maximum sustained winds.

Hurricane Humberto near peak intensity. (College of DuPage)

Shortly after peaking as a category 5, Humberto underwent an eyewall replacement cycle and began to slowly weaken on the 28th. It dropped to 140 mph before stabilizing and restrengthening to 145 mph on the 29th. After that, Humberto began to weaken quickly. 24 hours after going back up to 145 mph, Humberto had weakened to 80 mph. Humberto turned north, northeast, and east, merging into an upper-level trough and associated cold front by September 30th.

The GFS and Google Deep Mind’s ensemble performed well during this storm for track, and Google’s Deep Mind, along with consensus aids and the HWRF did well on intensity. The HWRF will often do well with high intensity hurricanes, as it tends to perform best in environments where storms have significant intensification potential.

Imelda

Now, Imelda was a much different animal. Imelda sprung to life officially on the evening of September 27th. Advisories for a potential tropical cyclone had been issued prior to that point given the likelihood of development and proximity to land. By the following afternoon, Imelda got its name. Imelda struck Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas on the morning of the 29th with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. From there, Imelda drifted northward, eventually strengthening into a hurricane on the 30th. It slowed down then as Humberto passed to the east, then picked up speed again, peaking in intensity on October 1st, with winds just above 90 mph. That evening it passed immediately south of Bermuda, impacting the island with strong winds and heavy rain. By the next day, Imelda had become extratropical. Imelda eventually got absorbed into the same general system that absorbed Humberto about 5 days previously by October 3rd or 4th.

While Imelda and Humberto didn’t directly interact with one another, Humberto’s influence had a big impact on Imelda’s final track. It also had a big impact on the model guidance forecasting Imelda and how close it would approach the Carolinas and Southeast. Thus, track forecasting suffered a bit during this storm across the board. NHC track forecasting errors still managed to beat the 5-year average between hours 36 and 60. Google Deep Mind’s model did very well overall in terms of track once again. So did the UKMET, which was part of a group of solutions that took Imelda farther east, not right up against the U.S. East Coast.

Before Imelda became a defined tropical system, weather models had a very difficult time resolving whether or not it would track closer to the East Coast or farther out to sea, such as with this European ensemble track forecast from September 27th. (PolarWx.com/Tomer Burg)

Intensity forecasts were generally not as difficult, and the NHC outperformed most model guidance and the 5-year average here. Winds on Bermuda gusted as high as 86 mph. Imelda dumped over 20 inches of rain in parts of eastern Cuba while a tropical wave as well. Imelda was a good case study in being cautious about being too aggressive with forecasts before a storm even develops.

Tropical Storm Jerry (October 7-11)

Jerry formed from a tropical wave about 4 days after it exited Africa on October 3rd.

The wave associated with Jerry booked it west until it developed on the 7th, immediately becoming a tropical storm. Because of Jerry’s forward speed and some wind shear and dry air, it just never was able to get off the ground, despite some aggressive model forecasts at the time. Jerry peaked on the 8th with 65 mph maximum sustained winds and a surface pressure of only 1000 mb. Though Jerry missed the islands to the northeast, the storm still managed to kill one person in Guadeloupe and cause some significant flooding there and in Antigua. As much as 5 to 9 inches of rain fell in some of those islands with wind gusts as high as 67 mph in Guadeloupe. The NHC track forecast for Jerry was outstanding, while the intensity forecast was too strong, owing to the aggressive model guidance early on.

Subtropical Storm Karen (October 9-10)

Karen was a relatively unmemorable storm with the very noteworthy exception of being the farthest north a tropical storm or subtropical storm has formed on record.

While many storms have tracked into that part of the ocean, none have had their origin occur that far to the north. As a subtropical entity, Karen only had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, though it was stronger prior to undergoing tropical transition. Rather than regurgitate the technicalities involved in determining why Karen was a subtropical storm and how it came to be, I encourage you to check out the NHC’s post storm analysis on Karen here.

Tropical Storm Lorenzo (October 13-15)

Not much to say about Lorenzo. It formed from a tropical wave in the open Atlantic and never really got off the ground, lasting just a short time before dissipating.

Hurricane Melissa (October 21-31)

The worst of the season saved itself for last. 2025 ended with Hurricane Melissa, an absolute monster of a storm that shattered records. It tied (Allen 1980) for the strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin with 190 mph maximum sustained winds. Maximum sustained winds at landfall of 185 mph tied Dorian in 2019 and the Labor Day 1935 storm for strongest landfall on record in the Atlantic. The 892 mb minimum central pressure was only beaten out by Wilma in 2005 (882 mb) and Gilbert in 1988 (888 mb) for deepest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic. A dropsonde observation from a hurricane hunter mission into Melissa measured an instantaneous wind speed of 219 kts (252 mph), which is the highest wind speed ever measured globally by that type of equipment.

Melissa was captured in the models well in advance of development as a potential threat, noted prior to October 13th. It was tough to take it super seriously initially, as modeling had been flagging that area for many days prior to Melissa being a thought. It was really around October 17th or so when things got pretty serious looking. And it only escalated from there.

Much ink has been spilled on Melissa over the last several months, as it relates to preparedness, communication, climate change, you name it. There’s no real sense in going off the deep end here with things, but I strongly encourage you to read the NHC’s report in full, as it contains a multitude of valuable information, imagery, and insight. I will just note that forecast-wise this was a tremendous success for the National Hurricane Center, which beat virtually every model at almost every lead time on both track and intensity. The exceptions were a few models that beat NHC on day 5 intensity errors and Google Deep Mind, which had a slightly better track forecast across the board. Google’s model was a revelation this past hurricane season, and there will be high expectations for its performance in 2026.

I’ll end it with some editorial comments. It’s a testament to Jamaica’s preparedness and resilience that the total death toll from this storm (officially) still lags 100 people. There was some commentary from folks in Jamaica on social media lambasting some meteorologists for overhyping the storm. And when you think about that, it’s almost laughable to think that you could possibly overhype one of the largest storms in modern history. But Jamaicans are not ill-prepared for hurricanes, and there was an element of patronization in some of the posts and comments ahead of Melissa that because Jamaica is a Caribbean nation it must not be ready to handle a storm. Quite frankly, while not as excessive as some others, I was guilty of expressing some serious concern of the impending doom variety rather than the healthy concern one should have when a category 5 storm is looming. None of this is to minimize that this was a legitimate catastrophe for the country. It caused over $8 billion in damage after all. But the air of condescension was evident. We could all learn some lessons from Jamaica for how to prepare and harden our communities for hurricanes.

2025 would have been a footnote in the history of Atlantic hurricanes for the most part had Melissa not occurred. It’s a sobering reminder that even in relatively quiet seasons, bad storms can happen. This is why we advocate preparing every hurricane season as if it is “the one.”

Pacific hurricane season underway, as the U.S. looks soggy and stormy

May 18, 2026 at 10:25 amMay 18, 2026 at 10:25 am by Matt Lanza

In brief: A quick Monday table setter to discuss severe weather today, flooding concerns that are coming up, and an early season heat wave on the East Coast. Eastern Pacific hurricane season is also officially underway.

Tropical concerns: None.

Eastern Pacific hurricane season began on Friday, and it looks quiet for the time being. Nothing on the Atlantic side to get us stirred up either. Look for part 3 of our 2025 Atlantic season in review on Wednesday.

Severe weather concerns: Moderate risk today Kansas/SE Nebraska

A moderate risk (level 4/5) is in place today for much of central and northeast Kansas, as well as southeast Nebraska. The risk today is for significant hail and strong tornadoes in this area.

Significant tornado risk exists today from near Wichita through southeast Nebraska. (NOAA SPC)

Storms should develop later this afternoon and advance east across Iowa and Missouri. Much of those areas are in enhanced (3/5) and slight (2/5) risk as well. So there is substantial risk for damaging thunderstorms today and tonight in these regions.

Storms will advance south and east tomorrow where a very broad slight risk (2/5) is in place from Upstate New York into Texas.

Flooding concerns: Central U.S., including Texas

Storms today will cause localized flash flooding from Kansas into Iowa and Minnesota but also a bullseye in Missouri. In these areas a “slight” risk (2/4) is in place for excessive rainfall and flooding, except a moderate risk (3/4) in Missouri.

A moderate risk of flooding south of Columbia, MO, with significant heavy rain falling and expected to continue tonight. (NWS WPC)

Flood watches are posted in this area.

As that system exits to the east, the setup over the Central U.S., from about Texas into the Ohio Valley and Southeast is going to favor continuous moisture coming in off the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. This will lead to repeated rounds of rain and thunderstorms beginning tomorrow and continuing probably into next week in these areas. Rainfall totals will probably add up to 4 to 8 inches over a broad area in that 7 to 10 day period.

Forecast rainfall from NWS over the next 7 days. Additional rain will follow this, and locally higher amounts are possible, especially in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas. (Pivotal Weather)

In localized spots, we could see some flash flooding concerns ramp up, including portions of Louisiana and the Houston area in Texas. We could also see some larger rivers begin to flood as well. We’ll be monitoring the rain chances for Houston closely at Space City Weather. But this looks like a major, prolonged and drought-busting rain event across the South and Ohio Valley. We will likely have more to come on this either here or at Space City Weather.

One other additional note: Corpus Christi has been in the news a lot lately because of the potentially devastating water shortage issues in that area. While this will not end those concerns at all, 1 to 4 inches of rain would help a lot in the near-term. Most models show this as a plausible outcome, though the heavier rains will be focused northeast of there. Hopefully with a developing El Niño, the rains will occur more frequently, though flooding concerns may emerge more frequently too.

Heat concerns: Northeast Corridor

Not necessarily out of the ordinary, but an early season heat wave is going to impact parts of the Northeast Corridor, especially between New York City and Richmond, Virginia the next couple days. Yesterday was a taste of things with 89 degrees recorded in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. Today and tomorrow should be worse. Forecast highs are in the mid-90s for DC and Philly today and tomorrow and perhaps mid-90s into New York and Boston tomorrow.

Probability of “major” heat risk on Tuesday in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. (NOAA)

Tuesday should be the hotter of the two days overall, and the NWS heat risk map above shows pretty high probabilities of “major” risk (level 3/4) over a broad area. Heat should end on Wednesday evening with a cold front slamming through the region.