Well-below average Atlantic 2026 hurricane season outlook

Well, the hurricane forecast got an update today. The outlook is now well below normal. Let's get over to Fox 35 Storm Team meteorologist Laurel Blanchard for the details on this one. And Laurel, it's looking like El Nino is the main reason for this change. Yeah, guys, we saw a significant drop in those numbers earlier today when Colorado State University updated their 2026 hurricane outlook. So back in April, they put out the forecast of 13 named storms, six hurricanes, two major hurricanes, which was already below average, and they took the numbers down even more now calling for nine named storms, four hurricanes, one major hurricane. And this has been the trend for the updates that they've made in their forecast. Not only did they take it down in April, but they also took it down when they put out their forecast update in June as well. But like Luann said, this is all because of El Nino. So what is El Nino? El Nino is when we see warmer water in the equatorial Pacific. Ultimately, what this means is that there's more air rising, which means that there's more hostile winds as it makes its way over into the Atlantic because of the trade winds. What does this mean for us during hurricane season? Well, this really just means, especially in the Pacific, there's a more active season, and because of the more hostile winds, it rips the potential for any potential tropical systems apart in the Atlantic, which goes ergo with the lower numbers that they're expecting with that outlook. So right now, El Nino is at a moderate phase as of right now, still looking at that moderate phase. But by September, when we're at the peak of hurricane season, El Nino could be at a strong or very strong phase, which even supports why those numbers are going to continue to drop. The next update for the Colorado State University forecast comes up at the beginning of August. We'll send you back to you guys at the desk.