The 1931 Atlantic hurricane season was an active hurricane season, with a total of 13 storms recorded, which was the most since 1916. However, only three of them intensified into hurricanes and just one reached major hurricane intensity, which is Category 3 or higher on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale. Nine of the tropical cyclones were identified in real-time, while evidence of the existence of four other tropical cyclones was uncovered by the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project in 2012 and added to the Atlantic hurricane database. Additionally, two of the tropical storms were upgraded to hurricane status as part of the reanalysis.

The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year, from June 1 through November 30, when tropical or subtropical cyclones are most likely to form in the North Atlantic Ocean. These dates, adopted by convention, encompass the period in each year when most tropical cyclogenesis occurs in the basin. Even so, subtropical or tropical cyclogenesis is possible at any time of the year, and often does occur.