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Hurricane Names - How Are Hurricanes Named?







Why are Hurricanes Named? Hurricanes occur every year, and sometimes two or three hurricanes can be active at the same time. Using names for these storms makes it much easier for meteorologists, researchers, emergency response workers, ship captains and citizens to communicate about specific hurricanes and be clearly understood. For that reason, the World Meteorological Organization develops a list of names that are assigned in alphabetical order to tropical storms as they are discovered in each hurricane season. Names can be repeated after an interval of six years, but the names of especially severe storms are permanently retired from use.







Names used for Atlantic Tropical Storms 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Andrea Arthur Ana Alex Arlene Alberto Barry Bertha Bill Bonnie Bret Beryl Chantal Cristobal Claudette Colin Cindy Chris Dorian Dolly Danny Danielle Don Debby Erin Edouard Elsa Earl Emily Ernesto Fernand Fay Fred Fiona Franklin Francine Gabrielle Gonzalo Grace Gaston Gert Gordon Humberto Hanna Henri Hermine Harold Helene Imelda Isaias Ida Ian Idalia Isaac Jerry Josephine Julian Julia Jose Joyce Karen Kyle Kate Karl Katia Kirk Lorenzo Laura Larry Lisa Lee Leslie Melissa Marco Mindy Martin Margot Milton Nestor Nana Nicholas Nicole Nigel Nadine Olga Omar Odette Owen Ophelia Oscar Pablo Paulette Peter Paula Philippe Patty Rebekah Rene Rose Richard Rina Rafael Sebastien Sally Sam Shary Sean Sara Tanya Teddy Teresa Tobias Tammy Tony Van Vicky Victor Virginie Vince Valerie Wendy Wilfred Wanda Walter Whitney William

Recent and Future Hurricane Names In the Atlantic Ocean, tropical storms that reach a sustained wind speed of 39 miles per hour are given a name, such as "Tropical Storm Fran." If the storm reaches a sustained wind speed of 74 miles per hour, it is called a hurricane - such as "Hurricane Fran." So, hurricanes are not given names, tropical storms are given names, and they retain their name if they develop into a hurricane. The names used for recent and future Atlantic storms are listed in the table on this page.







Retired Hurricane Names by Year 1979

David

Frederic 1980

Allen 1981 1982

1983

Alicia 1984

1985

Elena

Gloria 1986

1987

1988

Gilbert

Joan 1989

Hugo 1990

Diana

Klaus 1991

Bob 1992

Andrew 1993

1994

1995

Luis

Marilyn

Opal

Roxanne 1996

Cesar

Fran

Hortense 1997

1998

Georges

Mitch 1999

Floyd

Lenny 2000

Keith 2001

Allison

Iris

Michelle 2002

Isidore

Lili 2003

Fabian

Isabel

Juan 2004

Charley

Frances

Ivan

Jeanne 2005

Dennis

Katrina

Rita

Stan

Wilma 2006

2007

Dean

Felix

Noel 2008

Gustav

Ike

Paloma 2009

2010

Igor

Tomas 2011

Irene 2012

Sandy 2013

Ingrid 2014

2015

Erika

Joaquin 2016

Matthew

Otto 2017

Harvey

Irma

Maria

Nate 2018

Florence

Michael

History of Atlantic Hurricane Names Names have been given to Atlantic hurricanes for a few hundred years. People living in the Caribbean Islands named storms after the saint of the day from the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar for the day on which the hurricane occurred such as "Hurricane San Felipe." When two hurricanes struck on the same date in different years, the hurricanes would be referred to by names such as "Hurricane San Felipe the first" and "Hurricane San Felipe the second." In the early days of meteorology in the United States, storms were named with a latitude / longitude designation representing the location where the storm originated. These names were difficult to remember, difficult to communicate and subject to errors. During the Second World War, military meteorologists working in the Pacific began to use women's names for storms. That naming method made communication so easy that in 1953 it was adopted by the National Hurricane Center for use on storms originating in the Atlantic Ocean. Once this practice started, hurricane names quickly became part of common language, and public awareness of hurricanes increased dramatically. Retired in 2018

In 2018, Hurricanes Florence and Michael caused significant damages and fatalities. Out of respect for the people who suffered losses, these names were retired and will not be used again for tropical storms. A list of names that have been retired from 1979-2018 can be viewed on this page. In 1978, meteorologists watching storms in the eastern North Pacific began using men's names for half of the storms. Meteorologists for the Atlantic Ocean began using men's names in 1979. For each year a list of 21 names, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet, was developed and arranged in alphabetical order (names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z were not used). The first tropical storm of the year was given the name beginning with the letter "A," the second with the letter "B" and so on through the alphabet. During even-numbered years, men's names were given to the odd-numbered storms and during odd-numbered years, women's names were given to odd-numbered storms (see the table for recent name lists). Today, the World Meteorological Organization maintains the lists of names for tropical storms around the world. For the Atlantic hurricane names, there are six lists which are reused every six years.

Retired Hurricane Names The only change that is made to the list of Atlantic hurricane names is the occasional retirement of a name. This is done when a hurricane causes so much death and destruction that reuse of the same name would be insensitive to the people who suffered losses. When that happens the World Meteorological Organization replaces the name. For example, "Katrina" has been retired from the name list and will not be used again. A list of hurricane names that have been retired since the current name list system was established in 1979 is shown on this webpage. In addition to retirements, there are a few names that were simply changed. For example, on the 2007 list the names Dean, Felix and Noel were replaced with Dorian, Fernand and Nestor for the 2013 list.

Greek Alphabet Storm # Name Storm # Name Storm # Name 22 Alpha 30 Iota 38 Rho 23 Beta 31 Kappa 39 Sigma 24 Gamma 32 Lambda 40 Tau 25 Delta 33 Mu 41 Upsilon 26 Epsilon 34 Nu 42 Phi 27 Zeta 35 Xi 43 Chi 28 Eta 36 Omicron 44 Psi 29 Theta 37 Pi 45 Omega

When There Are More Than 21 Named Storms There are normally fewer than 21 named tropical storms in any calendar year. In the rare years when more than 21 storms are named, the additional storms are given names from the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on are used for their names. A table listing the 24 Greek names is shown on this page.

Naming Tropical Storms Outside of the Atlantic Tropical storms occur in the Pacific Ocean, and meteorologists working there have developed naming systems for them. Separate naming systems are maintained for Eastern North Pacific Storms and Central North Pacific Storms. Visit the National Hurricane Center to see lists and pronunciations of the names used in these areas. The World Meteorological Organization maintains the lists of names for tropical storms around the world.





