NOAA still sees a below-normal hurricane season. Don't relax.

Forecasters at NOAA's National Weather Service issued their mid-season update to the 2026 Atlantic hurricane outlook, and the call did not change: below-normal activity in the Atlantic basin. They now put the season at 7 to 13 named storms. Carrier Management covered the update.

Below normal is a count, not a promise. The season is about half over, and September is historically the busiest stretch for Florida. One storm that finds the coast does more damage than a dozen that spin out to sea, and your premium is not priced off the seasonal total. Two numbers are worth knowing before anything forms. The first is your hurricane deductible, which is usually a percentage of your dwelling limit rather than a flat dollar amount, so on a $400,000 limit a 2% deductible is $8,000 you pay before the policy does anything. The second is whether you carry flood at all. Flood is a separate policy, and a new NFIP policy generally takes 30 days to take effect, so buying it once a system is on the map does nothing for that storm.

An independent agent can pull your declarations page, walk you through both numbers, and re-shop the policy while the tropics are quiet.