Hurricane Season Opens Sunday — Here Are the 2026 Storm Names

The clock runs out Sunday.

June 1 marks the official start of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, and for the roughly 500,000 residents living along Florida's Treasure Coast — many of them on barrier islands, in flood-prone low-lying neighborhoods, or aboard vessels docked at Stuart, Fort Pierce and Vero Beach marinas — that date is not a calendar footnote. It is a hard deadline.

The World Meteorological Organization maintains the rotating list of storm names used by the National Hurricane Center. For the 2026 season, the Atlantic name list runs: Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dexter, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Harold, Imelda, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van and Wendy. Officials said

Names are retired when a storm causes sufficient death or destruction to make reuse insensitive — Dorian, Ian and Idalia among the recent Atlantic retirees. A retired name is replaced with a new one at the next WMO review cycle.

The six-month season runs through Nov. 30, with peak activity historically clustering between mid-August and mid-October, the National Hurricane Center notes. The Treasure Coast sits squarely in the corridor most threatened by storms tracking northward through the Florida Straits or curving in from the open Atlantic.

Martin County Emergency Management officials urge residents to have a 72-hour supply kit ready, know their evacuation zone — A through F — and have a communication plan in place before the first named storm forms. Zone information is available through Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River county emergency management offices.

Sunday is the reminder. The preparation should already be done.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.