The Atlantic hurricane season just punched a new quiet-era record. On Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, 2026 became the latest satellite-era season to reach that date without a storm hitting hurricane strength — sustained winds of 74 mph (119 kph) — according to Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Nick Novella, the Associated Press reported.

No Atlantic hurricane has formed this year, and the National Hurricane Center sees none likely for at least another week, even though mid-September is normally peak season. Only five relatively weak, brief tropical storms have spun up so far.

Overall activity — counting how many storms form, how strong they get, and how long they last — is at a post-1950 record low, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach told AP. Storm activity is only about 7% of normal for this point in the year. “It’s just hammering the Atlantic. It’s just impressive,” Klotzbach said. “We haven’t even had anything really even close to a hurricane.”

The culprit is a historically strong El Niño: record-strong vertical wind shear that “tear[s] apart” fledgling storms, dry air and Saharan dust that starve them, and downward-pushing high pressure that stomps what’s left, University at Albany atmospheric scientist Kristen Corbosiero and other specialists told AP. In the Africa-to-Caribbean corridor where the strongest systems usually form, Corbosiero said shear is about 45 mph (74 kph) beyond what a tropical cyclone can withstand — “an unheard of level.” University of Miami’s Brian McNoldy put it bluntly: “Their heads are cut off before they even have a chance.”

Warm oceans have not saved the season. Seas have been record-hot for months, but MIT’s Kerry Emanuel noted the atmosphere heated even faster under El Niño, shrinking the ocean-to-air temperature gap that powers storms. Forecasters expected a below-average Atlantic year; McNoldy said almost nobody expected it to be this dead. “This is quite remarkable.”

Experts still warn against complacency — one late storm can be catastrophic, as 1992’s Hurricane Andrew showed — and noted the Gulf of Mexico has seen less shear, so stronger systems remain possible later. The eastern and central Pacific, by contrast, are running hot under the same El Niño pattern.

Quiet is not the same as safe. A record drought of hurricanes is a climate-pattern story, not a permission slip to ignore the rest of the season.

Sources