Tropical Storm Hanna has formed far out in the Atlantic as the season still has no hurricane, with El Niño winds keeping activity weak and land threats off the board.
FOX Weather reported that Tropical Storm Hanna formed Monday morning about 870 miles east-northeast of Bermuda in the central subtropical Atlantic, becoming the eighth named storm of the season.
None of those eight storms has reached hurricane strength. September is closing with that streak intact, and Hanna is not forecast to change it.
The National Hurricane Center put Hanna’s sustained winds at 45 mph, with the system moving east-southeast at 15 mph. Forecasters expect it to hold that strength for several days while continuing east, well away from land.
Hanna sits hundreds of miles from Bermuda and poses no land threat in the current outlook. Hostile upper-level winds tied to El Niño have limited how much these systems can organize.
Fay, the other named system in the basin, is over the open Atlantic and is forecast to weaken further. The National Hurricane Center expects it to become post-tropical over the next two days.
That leaves a quiet picture for coastal communities: named storms spinning up, then fading, without the usual late-summer ramp-up into major hurricanes.
The last hurricane in the Atlantic was Melissa, which developed on Oct. 13, 2025. That gap now stretches past 330 days.
If September finishes without a hurricane, it would mark only the second such September in the satellite era. FOX Weather also noted that a full season without a hurricane in 2026 would be only the third on record since the mid-1800s, matching 1914 and 1917, and the first in the modern era.
Eight named storms and zero hurricanes is already an unusual run for a basin that often produces stronger systems by this point on the calendar.
The same pattern shows up in the forecasts. El Niño-driven winds have suppressed tropical development across the Atlantic this season, cutting off the calm upper-level conditions storms need to intensify.
That suppression is expected to continue as the climate pattern moves toward Super El Niño territory later this year. In plain terms, the atmosphere over the tropical Atlantic has been hostile to the usual heat-and-moisture engine that builds hurricanes.
The National Hurricane Center has also been watching Invest 91L, which has shown increased signs of development while moving quickly northeast. Even so, the broader setup remains the same: shear and unfavorable winds limiting what can grow.
Weather records are blunt. A September with no Atlantic hurricane is rare in the satellite era. A full season with none would join a very short list that ends in 1917.
Hanna’s formation keeps the named-storm count moving without ending the hurricane drought. Fay’s decline points the same way. The National Hurricane Center’s track and intensity outlooks still show no rapid strengthening and no run at the U.S. coast or the islands from these systems.
For now, the story is distance, wind shear, and a basin that has refused to produce a hurricane for more than 330 days.
Nature is running this season on its own terms, El Niño, open water, and weak storms, not on the panic calendar.
