2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season (Cooper)

The 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season was a well-below average Atlantic hurricane season with only 8 depressions and 7 named storms, one of which became a hurricane. The season vastly contrasted the previous seasons, with 2020 through 2025 all being average or above average seasons, spare for the somewhat inactive 2021 season.

The strongest storm and only hurricane of the season was Hurricane Bertha, although the storm grew to an impressive 1,010 miles in diameter shortly before completing its extratropical transition. By far the most notable storm of the season was Tropical Storm Arthur, after it became the first Atlantic tropical cyclone to form in the month of March since a hurricane in 1908.

Tropical Storm Arthur
Tropical Storm Arthur formed from the remnants of an extratropical cyclone on March 24th. Originally subtropical, the system gained tropical characteristics as it dipped south into warmer waters, becoming an extremely rare March tropical storm while 30 miles northwest of the island of Bermuda. Arthur resumed its northern track towards Atlantic Canada as it weakened over colder waters. Eventually on March 27th, water temperatures became too cold and Arthur became an extratropical low, dissipating later the same day.

Hurricane Bertha
A large tropical wave east of the Leeward Islands became a tropical depression on June 7th, more than 3 months after the first storm of the season formed. The depression moved northwest towards the United States as it strengthened into Tropical Storm Bertha on June 9th. The slow-moving storm brought heavy rainfall and mudslides to Hispaniola, although nobody was hurt. Bertha continued strengthening as it brushed the Bahamas with heavy rain.

At 15:00 UTC, Bertha became the first and only hurricane of the season with wind speeds of 90 miles per hour. As Bertha neared the United States east coast, the already large storm began to grow, and a hurricane warning was issued for South Carolina and Georgia. The large storm packed a gale diameter of 1,010 miles. The media fittingly dubbed the storm as "Big Bertha" due to its large size. Although slow-moving, Bertha packed very heavy rain and a storm surge of up to 15 feet, which swamped Charleston with moderate flooding during Bertha's June 11th landfall. Bertha weakened into a tropical storm, but still packed a large gale diameter as it moved over cooler waters. The large rain bands of Bertha brought moderate to heavy rain across the entire east coast of the United States. Bertha began its extratropical transition as it moved into the cool waters off the coast of Rhode Island. By June 14th, Bertha had lost tropical characteristics, but the big storm continued to bring rain across New England and Atlantic Canada before it fell apart over Newfoundland on June 17th. Bertha was responsible for $1.2 billion USD in damage, but only 2 fatalities were recorded, both in Hispaniola.