The National Hurricane Center has unveiled a series of changes to its forecast products ahead of the start of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.
Among the most notable updates is a change to the notorious forecast cone, which will now include inland Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watches and Warnings, in addition to those in place along the coastline.
Previously, the cone graphic only displayed coastal warnings, but the NHC tested displaying inland watches and warnings during the past few seasons and found strong support for enhancing the product.
Research indicates that including inland alerts helps to better communicate a tropical cyclone's wide-raging risks, which can spread hundreds of miles inland.
Forecasters continue to emphasize that a system's cone only represents the probable path of a storm’s center and does not depict the full extent of potential impacts, from wind damage to flooding.
In addition to the alert display, the overall size of the forecast cone will be slightly smaller compared to previous years.
The cone is based on historical forecast errors, and as predictions become more accurate, the cone narrows for the preceding season.
For example, at the 24-hour forecast point, the cone is now about 39 nautical miles wide and expands to roughly 200 nautical miles at the five-day forecast point.
Some of the greatest improvements in accuracy have occurred in the two- and three-day forecast range, where error margins have decreased by around 8% compared to 2025.
Another significant product enhancement involves the daily graphical tropical weather outlook, which highlights areas of potential tropical development.
Systems with little to no chance of development will now be represented by a gray “X,” and not highlighted by a yellow symbol, which indicates a low-probability development.
The yellow "X" will still be used but for systems that have a greater than 0% chance of development over the next week.
The change is aimed at reducing confusion and help to better distinguish systems that have a minimal chance of development over the short term.
Additional experimental products are also expected to be introduced, including a more elliptical forecast cone and new marine-focused graphics - both designed to gauge public interest before potentially becoming permanent forecast features.
Government forecasters also say they are making strides to improve accessibility to their forecasts.
A redesigned, mobile-friendly version of NOAA's hurricanes.gov, is expected to debut around the start of the season, on June 1.
2026 tropical cyclone names
A list of 21 names, last used during the 2020 hurricane season, will be used again in 2026. The only change from the previous cycle is the removal of Laura, which was retired following its devastating strike along the Louisiana coastline as a Category 4 hurricane.
A tropical cyclone is assigned a name once it reaches tropical storm strength, with maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph.
On average, an Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of which intensify into hurricanes.
2026 tropical cyclone names with pronunciation:
Arthur (AR-thur)
Bertha (BUR-thuh)
Cristobal (krees-TOH-bahl)
Dolly (DAH-lee)
Edouard (eh-DWARD)
Fay (fay)
Gonzalo (gohn-SAH-loh)
Hanna (HAN-uh)
Isaias (ees-ah-EE-ahs)
Josephine (JOH-seh-feen)
Kyle (KY-ull)
Leah (LEE-ah)
Marco (MAR-koe)
Nana (NA-na)
Omar (OH-mar)
Paulette (pawl-LET)
Rene (re-NAY)
Sally (SAL-ee)
Teddy (TEHD-ee)
Vicky (VIH-kee)
Wilfred (WILL-fred)
