Pacific Ocean — Hurricanes Surge, Atlantic Stays Quiet on El Niño

Zero. That is the count of full-blown hurricanes the Atlantic basin has produced so far this season, even as the Pacific Ocean has churned out an unusually high number of storms, according to NPR. The split, NPR reports, traces back to an exceptionally strong El Niño pattern reshaping storm formation across both oceans.

How quiet has the Atlantic hurricane season been?

The basin that typically supplies the storms Americans track most closely — the one that spins up systems threatening the Gulf Coast and the Eastern Seaboard — has not produced a single hurricane that reached full strength this year, NPR reports. For a region whose season runs from June through November, a stretch without one qualifying storm is the headline anomaly scientists are working to explain.

How busy is the Pacific by comparison?

On the other side of the map, the Pacific has seen an unusual number of storms, according to the same NPR report. The contrast between an overactive Pacific and an inactive Atlantic in the same calendar year is the core data point driving the scientific interest in this season, since the two basins are governed by many of the same large-scale atmospheric and oceanic conditions.

What is El Niño and why does it affect both oceans?

El Niño is a periodic warming of surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific that shifts wind patterns worldwide. NPR reports scientists point to an exceptionally strong version of this pattern as the driver behind this year's split outcome. A strong El Niño tends to increase wind shear over the Atlantic — a change in wind speed or direction with height that can tear apart developing storms before they organize — while simultaneously warming and calming the atmosphere over parts of the Pacific in ways that favor storm formation there.

By the Numbers

• 0 — full-blown hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic basin this season, as of NPR's Sept. 25 report.
• 2026 — the year NPR describes as producing an unusual number of Pacific storms during the same stretch.

What are meteorologists watching next?

The practical question for the rest of the season is whether the El Niño pattern NPR describes as exceptionally strong holds through the remaining weeks of the Atlantic season, or whether shifting conditions open a window for late-season development. A prolonged strong El Niño would keep the current pattern — quiet Atlantic, active Pacific — largely intact. Any weakening could lower the wind shear currently suppressing Atlantic storms, a shift forecasters and coastal emergency planners will be tracking closely as the traditional peak of hurricane season continues to unfold.

The full NPR report, including additional detail from the scientists tracking both basins, is available at npr.org.