| Title | We’re About to Run Out of Atlantic Hurricane Names | |
| Date | Wednesday September 29 2021, @12:20AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the what's-in-a-name? dept. | ||
We’re about to run out of Atlantic hurricane names:
It has been another record-setting hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, with a total of 19 named storms so far. It has been so busy that, with still more than two months to go until the season's end, the National Hurricane Season is probably going to run out of names for the second year in a row.
Currently in the Atlantic, Hurricane Sam is rampaging across open waters. Fortunately this major hurricane is unlikely to threaten any landmasses. Behind Sam, it's possible that Victor and Wanda will form during the next few days. Neither of these storms, either, poses any immediate threat to land.
If they do form, these two storms would exhaust the allotment of "official" names the National Hurricane Season uses for tropical storms and hurricanes. (Because the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not commonly used for names, they don't appear on the list of Atlantic names). In years past, the Miami-based hurricane center would then start assigning Greek letters for excess named storms.
[...] And so after last season, the World Meteorological Organization—which is designated by the United Nations to handle weather issues—decided to create a supplemental list of names in lieu of the Greek alphabet. These storm names, beginning with Adria, Braylen, and Caridad, will come into play this year if more than two named storms form during the remainder of 2021. This seems likely given that about 25 percent of activity during any given Atlantic season occurs after October 1. One particular area of concern next month is the Western Caribbean Sea, which has sea surface temperatures several degrees above normal.
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printed from SoylentNews, We’re About to Run Out of Atlantic Hurricane Names on 2024-04-25 15:39:29