Published 4 April 2024
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Credit Fox13 News
The list of hurricane names is rotated every six years, so the 2024 list will be a repeat of 2018 except for Florence and Michael. Those names were retired due to the damage the storms caused.
What are the 2024 hurricane names?
- Alberto
- Beryl
- Chris
- Debby
- Ernesto
- Francine
- Gordon
- Helene
- Isaac
- Joyce
- Kirk
- Leslie
- Milton
- Nadine
- Oscar
- Patty
- Rafael
- Sara
- Tony
- Valerie
- William
Why are hurricanes named?
According to the National Hurricane Center, using short, distinctive names in written and verbal communication is quicker and more accurate than using older, more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods. Plus, the organization states that using easily remembered names reduces confusion when two or more storms are happening simultaneously.
NHC says for several hundred years, hurricanes in the West Indies were named after saints.
Closer to home, military meteorologists initially used a haphazard system involving the phonetic alphabet to name storms – such as hurricanes Baker, Dog, and Easy in 1950.
The United States Weather Bureau, now called the National Weather Service, began creating more familiar lists of storm names in 1953. They were all women’s names at first, but that changed in 1978 at the direction of then-Secretary of Commerce Juanita Kreps.
READ: How the fading El Nino pattern will impact hurricane season activity in 2024
The 21-name lists – one for each letter of the alphabet, minus the less-common letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z – are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization.
A permanent 6-year storm list began in 1979. The names repeat, but if a storm is particularly costly or deadly, it is removed from the list, or retired. When that happens, the WMO committee selects a name beginning with the same letter to replace it.
What happens if the hurricane names run out?
Until 2020, when all the hurricane names were used, the Greek alphabet came into play, and storms were called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Zeta, Eta, Theta, etc. That happened twice – once in 2005 and again in 2020.
Now, instead of using the Greek alphabet, a list of supplemental tropical cyclone names will be used.
What happens if a storm forms outside of hurricane season?
Hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30. If a storm forms outside of those dates, it will assume the next name on the list depending on the year. For example, if a storm forms in December, it will be called the next name on that year’s list. If it forms in February, it will take a name from the upcoming season.
What hurricane names are retired?
- Agnes 1972
- Alicia 1983
- Allen 1980
- Allison 2001
- Andrew 1992
- Anita 1977
- Audrey 1957
- Betsy 1965
- Beulah 1967
- Bob 1991
- Camille 1969
- Carla 1961
- Carmen 1974
- Carol 1954
- Celia 1970
- Cesar 1996
- Charley 2004
- Cleo 1964
- Connie 1955
- David 1979
- Dean 2007
- Dennis 2005
- Diana 1990
- Diane 1955
- Donna 1960
- Dora 1964
- Dorian 2019
- Edna 1954
- Elena 1985
- Eloise 1975
- Erika 2015
- Eta 2020
- Fabian 2003
- Felix 2007
- Fifi 1974
- Fiona 2022
- Flora 1963
- Florence 2018
- Floyd 1999
- Fran 1996
- Frances 2004
- Frederic 1979
- Georges 1998
- Gilbert 1988
- Gloria 1985
- Greta 1978
- Gustav 2008
- Harvey 2017
- Hattie 1961
- Hazel 1954
- Hilda 1964
- Hortense 1996
- Hugo 1989
- Ian 2022
- Ida 2021
- Igor 2010
- Ike 2008
- Inez 1966
- Ingrid 2013
- Ione 1955
- Iota 2020
- Irene 2011
- Iris 2001
- Irma 2017
- Isabel 2003
- Isidore 2002
- Ivan 2004
- Janet 1955
- Jeanne 2004
- Joan 1988
- Joaquin 2015
- Juan 2003
- Katrina 2005
- Keith 2000
- Klaus 1990
- Laura 2020
- Lenny 1999
- Lili 2002
- Luis 1995
- Maria 2017
- Marilyn 1995
- Matthew 2016
- Michael 2018
- Michelle 2001
- Mitch 1998
- Nate 2017
- Noel 2007
- Opal 1995
- Otto 2016
- Paloma 2008
- Rita 2005
- Roxanne 1995
- Sandy 2012
- Stan 2005
- Tomas 2010
- Wilma 2005
