With Category 4 Hurricane Beryl now sweeping through the Windward Islands, people want to know more about these intense tropical storms and how they are named.
How do hurricanes receive their names?
According to CBS News, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) maintains six alphabetical lists of names for Atlantic hurricanes that are “rotated through every six years.”
Per the outlet, a developing cyclone receives a name when it officially becomes a tropical storm, which means it has sustained winds of at least 39 mph.
The tropical storm becomes a hurricane when maximum sustained winds hit 74 mph.
According to the WMO, storms were given female names beginning in the middle of the 20th century.
It continues, “Then, in the pursuit of a more organized and efficient system, meteorologists in the North Atlantic decided to identify storms using names from an alphabetical list: the first storm in the year would be given a name that begins with A, like Anne, the second B, like Betty, etc.”
The National Hurricane Center, a division of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), gave the name lists for Atlantic tropical storms beginning in 1953. Male names joined in 1979 and alternated with female names.
The WMO has now created “strict procedures to determine a list of tropical cyclone names.”
Different areas of the world have varying procedures for naming cyclones.
“In some places like the Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere, cyclones are named alphabetically, alternating men’s and women’s names. In other regions, names follow the alphabetical order of the countries,” the WMO states.
Why do hurricanes receive names?
Per CBS News, naming helps meteorologists and the public keep track of storms.
‘Potentially catastrophic’ Hurricane Beryl to hit Caribbean islands forcing airlines to cancel flights –
Meteorologists began following an alphabetical system, with the first hurricane of the season receiving an “A” name, the second a “B” name, and so on.
According to the WMO, giving tropical cyclones a name has “proven to be the fastest way to communicate warnings and raise public awareness and preparedness.”
Naming tropical cyclones “makes tracking and discussing specific storms more straightforward, especially when multiple storms are active simultaneously.”
It also “helps to avoid confusion among meteorologists, media, emergency management agencies and the public.”
Naming tropical cyclones can also help historical record-keeping, as well as research on storm behavior and impacts, per the WMO.
What’s the difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane?
Hurricanes are more severe than tropical storms.
According to the National Weather Service, a tropical storm is a tropical cyclone “that has maximum sustained surface winds ranging from 39-73 mph (34 to 63 knots),” while a hurricane is “a tropical cyclone that has maximum sustained surface winds of 74 mph or greater (64 knots or greater).”
Why are hurricane names retired?
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the only time there is a name change is if a storm “is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity.”
If that happens, the offending name is removed from the list and another name is chosen as its replacement at a yearly committee meeting.
However, there have been exceptions to this system. Before the first permanent six-year storm name list started in 1979, “some storm names were simply not used anymore.”
Per the NHC, in, 1966, the name “Fern” was substituted for “Frieda” with no reason provided.
According to CBS News, during especially bad hurricane seasons, multiple names per year may be retired.
What names are being used in 2024?
Per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2024 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Names include:
- Alberto
- Beryl
- Chris
- Debby
- Ernesto
- Francine
- Gordon
- Helene
- Isaac
- Joyce
- Kirk
- Leslie
- Milton
- Nadine
- Oscar
- Patty
- Rafael
- Sara
- Tony
- Valerie
- William
As CNN reported, Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a Category 4 storm on the morning of July 1, 2024.
As the storm travels through the Windward Islands, it is
“endangering several island communities with life-threatening storm surge, violent winds and flash flooding,” per the outlet.
It is the Windward Islands’ strongest storm in 20 years and has so far impacted areas such as Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago.