There are only 21 names in the World Meteorological Organization list of hurricane names for the North Atlantic. With NOAA predicting 18-21 named tropical systems this year and Dr. Bill Gray forecasting 20, you have to seriously consider the possibility that we could exhaust the list of names.
I asked Frank Lepore, the Public Affairs Officer for the National Hurricane Center what would happen if we actually had more than 21 named storms. Here was his response:
"The National Hurricane Operations Plan, FCM-P12-2005, dated May 2005, page 3-9 provides that "If over 21 tropical cyclones occur in a year, the Greek alphabet will be used following the W-named cyclone.""
He added a bit of interesting information concerning the storm names that were retired last year:
"For your background Colin replaces Charley, Fiona replaces Frances, Igor replaces Ivan, and Julia replaces Jeanne for 2010."
Igor...that already sounds like a bad one.
- Bill Murray
I asked Frank Lepore, the Public Affairs Officer for the National Hurricane Center what would happen if we actually had more than 21 named storms. Here was his response:
"The National Hurricane Operations Plan, FCM-P12-2005, dated May 2005, page 3-9 provides that "If over 21 tropical cyclones occur in a year, the Greek alphabet will be used following the W-named cyclone.""
He added a bit of interesting information concerning the storm names that were retired last year:
"For your background Colin replaces Charley, Fiona replaces Frances, Igor replaces Ivan, and Julia replaces Jeanne for 2010."
Igor...that already sounds like a bad one.
- Bill Murray