As of early August 2024, the Atlantic basin has seen Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl, Tropical Storm Chris, and Hurricane Debby. While these massive storms are no laughing matter, newscasters and neighbors might poke fun at the coincidence of “Debby” being the name of a colleague or aunt. So where do these commonplace storm names come from?
A tropical storm can be named once it meets two criteria: a circular rotation and wind speeds of more than 39 mph. Once a storm reaches 74 mph, it becomes a hurricane, but it keeps the same name it was given as a tropical storm.
There is a bit of an art to naming modern-day storms. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a branch of the United Nations, is responsible for naming storms in the Atlantic, Eastern North Pacific, and Central North Pacific. All of the United States falls under this storm jurisdiction. The hurricane season runs from July 1 to November 20, and each year a list of 21 storm names (alphabetical, excluding the letters “Q,” “U,” “X,” “Y,” and “Z”) is released. The list is recycled every six years, so the list of names for the 2024 season will be used again in 2030, unless any names are retired for being especially destructive storms. Currently, there are 96 names on the retired Atlantic hurricane list, including Katrina (2004), Sandy (2012), and Matthew (2016).
In the Atlantic basin, the names are typically English, French, and Spanish, and they aren’t based on any real people. In the 2024 season, we might meet Ernesto, Helene, Kirk, Leslie, Oscar, and, if we reach the end of the list, Valerie and William.
Formerly, if the full list of storm names was used up before the end of the season, any additional storms would be named after letters of the Greek alphabet — Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. This unusual event occurred for only the second time in storm-naming history during the 2020 storm season, as there were a total of 30 storms that met the criteria for naming.
In 2021, however, the WMO did away with the Greek alphabet, as the organization felt this naming convention was confusing (Zeta, Eta, and Theta came in quick succession in 2020). Instead, the WMO implemented two supplementary lists of more traditional-sounding names. However, there were only 21 Atlantic storms in 2021, 14 in 2022, and 20 in 2023, so those lists have not yet been needed.
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Optimism, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
