2026 Pacific hurricane season

Season overview

Forecasters at NOAA expected an above-normal year, pointing to a strong El Niño event developing in the Pacific. The season delivered. By September 29 the archive held accumulated cyclone energy of about 262.6 units, against a typical full-season range of roughly 75 to 111 units for 1991 to 2020. The National Hurricane Center's running figure, about 272.7 units, is dated a day later, September 30; both are provisional.

Seventeen of the storms formed in the eastern Pacific and three, Lala, Moke and Nolo, took names in the central Pacific. Several eastern Pacific storms also crossed west of 140°W, so the season's activity reached well beyond Mexico's coastal waters toward Hawaii and the date line.

Storm activity so far

The season opened fast. Tropical Storm Amanda formed far out in the open Pacific on June 2, and Tropical Storms Boris and Cristina followed within a week, one off southwestern Mexico and the other off Central America. After Tropical Storm Douglas in early July, activity built steadily. Hurricane Fausto became the first hurricane on July 21, and Hurricane Genevieve formed on July 24 and reached Category 5 within three days.

August turned the focus to Hawaii. Hurricane Lala formed east-southeast of the islands on August 13, and Tropical Storm Moke followed a week later on a similar path. Late in the month, Tropical Storms Iselle and Julio briefly interacted south of Mexico before Iselle absorbed Julio, while Hurricanes Karina and Lowell both formed on August 27.

September was the busiest month. Karina, Lowell and Hurricane Marie were all active as hurricanes at once in early September, and later in the month Hurricanes Nolo, Odalys and Polo spun at the same time. Nolo began as a depression on September 13, fell apart, regenerated in the central Pacific and was still active on September 29, making it the longest-lived storm so far. Tropical Storm Rachel formed off Mexico on September 27.

Strongest storms so far

Hurricane Polo is the strongest storm so far. It formed off southwestern Mexico on September 20 over waters near 31°C, intensified explosively, and peaked on September 22 with one-minute winds of 155 knots and a central pressure of 892 hPa. Early accounts rank that pressure among the lowest on record in the eastern Pacific, though the figures come from operational data and may be revised.

Hurricane Genevieve and Hurricane Lowell also reached Category 5, each with peak winds of 140 knots; Lowell's pressure bottomed out at 922 hPa and Genevieve's at 924 hPa. Lowell reached Category 5 twice, weakening after its first peak on September 2 and regaining that strength a few days later, and it became the first Category 5 hurricane in the central Pacific since Hurricane Walaka in 2018. Three Category 5 storms already matches the most in a single Pacific season, shared with 1994, 2002 and 2018.

Four more storms became Category 4 hurricanes: Nolo at 135 knots, Karina at 125 knots, and Lala and Odalys at 115 knots each. Karina took on an annular structure that let it hold its strength over cooler water, and Nolo did the same before peaking on September 28.

Landfalls and impacts

In Hawaii, Hurricane Lala passed just south of the Big Island on August 16, with winds near 80 mph, close enough to be counted as the island's first direct hurricane hit since 1871. Early reports list three deaths attributed to the storm plus one indirect death in a car crash, and about US$81.4 million in damage in 2026 dollars. Hurricane Lowell, the first hurricane to directly affect Kauaʻi County since Hurricane Iniki in 1992, is blamed for three deaths, with damage estimated at more than US$500 million in 2026 dollars. Hurricane Nolo's rain brought up to 17.25 inches to the Big Island and cut power to more than 16,000 people in late September. All of these figures are preliminary.

Mexico and Central America felt the early-season storms. Tropical Storm Boris made landfall near the Oaxaca-Guerrero border on June 9. Its final NHC report found no direct deaths, but rain from Boris and the broader weather pattern around it caused landslides, power outages and road closures across southern Mexico, and an insurance broker estimated about US$100 million in economic losses. Tropical Storm Cristina never made landfall, though its rain bands damaged homes and roads in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador; the NHC reported no casualties.

Several storms reached the Revillagigedo Islands and the coasts of Mexico and California through swells and rough surf. Swells from the remains of Tropical Storm Elida combined with those from Fausto and Genevieve on July 25, when the Los Angeles County Fire Department carried out a record 1,950 rescues. In September, Hurricane Polo flooded parts of Zihuatanejo and closed ports along the Guerrero and Michoacán coast; early reports put its deaths at seven or more, a figure still being revised.

How the counts compare

The site's counts come from the archive's one-minute winds during the tropical stage, so they can differ slightly from operational tallies. Wikipedia's season article runs to October 1 and counts ten hurricanes, because Tropical Storm Rachel reached hurricane strength on September 30, after the archive's latest observation. It also lists Tropical Depression Nineteen-E, which formed on September 29 without reaching tropical storm strength. Per-storm peaks for Tropical Storms Amanda, Boris and Cristina are slightly higher in their final NHC reports than in the provisional archive, a reminder that individual figures will shift as post-season reviews come in.