The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was an event in the annual tropical cyclone season in the north Atlantic Ocean. It was the costliest, as well as the first above-average, Atlantic hurricane season since the 2012 season. It featured the highest number of deaths since the 2008 season and also yielded the highest number of named storm landfalls on the United States since that year. The season officially began on June 1 and concluded on November 30, dates which conventionally delimit the period during each year when a majority of tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Ocean. The season's first cyclone, Alex, developed on January 12, while the final storm of the season, Otto, closed-out the season by exiting into the Eastern Pacific on November 25, becoming the first Atlantic–Pacific crossover hurricane since Hurricane Cesar–Douglas in 1996.

Tropical Storm Bonnie was a weak but persistent tropical cyclone that brought heavy rains to the Southeastern United States in May 2016. The second storm of the season, Bonnie formed from an area of low pressure northeast of the Bahamas on May 27, a few days before the official hurricane season began on June 1. Moving steadily west-northwestwards, Bonnie intensified into a tropical storm on May 28 and attained peak winds six hours later. However, due to hostile environmental conditions, Bonnie weakened to a depression hours before making landfall just east of Charleston, South Carolina, on May 29. Steering currents collapsed afterwards, causing the storm to meander over South Carolina for two days. The storm weakened further into a post-tropical cyclone on May 31, before emerging off the coast while moving generally east-northeastwards. On June 2, Bonnie regenerated into a tropical depression just offshore North Carolina as conditions became slightly more favorable. The next day, despite increasing wind shear and cooling sea surface temperatures, Bonnie reintensified into a tropical storm and reached its peak intensity. The storm hung on to tropical storm strength for another day, before weakening into a depression late on June 4 and became post-tropical early the next day.