September ended with zero Atlantic hurricanes, a first since 1994. Can the season finally spin one up by Oct 12?

The Atlantic hurricane season produced its first hurricane of 2026, Isaias, which struck the Gulf Coast in early October after forming from a tropical disturbance that strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico. By October 10, at least two deaths were attributed to the storm after it moved through Florida and Alabama, bringing flooding, wind damage and widespread power outages to the region.

The named storm came after an unusually quiet season: September 2026 had ended without a single Atlantic hurricane for the first time since 1994, despite the Atlantic already producing eight named tropical storms. Forecasters had flagged an area of interest in the Gulf in early October as the most likely candidate to finally produce a hurricane, and Isaias was named and subsequently strengthened to hurricane status before making its Gulf Coast landfall.

The storm's formation ended a stretch of below-average hurricane activity relative to recent seasons, even as the broader 2026 Atlantic season remained active in terms of the number of named systems. Isaias's landfall caused significant regional disruption, including fatalities and infrastructure damage across the Southeast.

The Predict Six community got this one wrong: only 27% predicted a hurricane would form by the deadline, but Isaias did.