Atlantic Hurricane Headlines

 

Hurricane Laura, August 2020  (Source: WUSA9)

The World Meteorological Organization met earlier this month and made key changes that will impact future Atlantic hurricane seasons.  It falls under the purview of the WMO to retire the names of hurricanes that are extraordinarily destructive or deadly (e.g. Andrew, Katrina, and Maria).  Retired names are replaced on the rotating 6-year list of names that are used to name tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic.

WMO retired a total of four names: Hurricane Dorian (2019) and Hurricanes Laura, Eta and Iota (2020).  Dorian was a Category 5 monster that decimated the Bahamas in September 2019 but the name was only retired this month.  That’s because retiring names wasn’t on the agenda at the WMO meeting a year ago due to the developing COVID emergency.

More named storms developed in the tropical Atlantic last season than any previous season on record (30).  That meant 2020 joined the epic 2005 season as only the second one to use all 21 names on the list and required storms to be named with letters from the Greek alphabet.  The letters Q, U, X, Y & Z aren’t used due to the dearth of names that began with those letters.  

To reduce confusion going forward, the Greek alphabet will not be used when the original list of names is used up.  Instead, a supplemental list of names with letters A-Z will be used.  Any of the names on the supplemental list could be retired, as needed, the same way names have historically been retired. 

It’s important to emphasize that using up all 21 names on the original list is extraordinarily rare and has only happened twice, in 2020 and 2005.  Last season was the first time named storms that developed after the original list was used up were destructive and/or deadly enough to be retired.  That created the unprecedented circumstance the WMO had to address.  Going forward, however, there is now a new protocol in place should a similar situation present itself again. 

Although the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t begin until June 1, the last six seasons have each had at least one named storm develop before then.  Not since 2015 has there been a below average Atlantic hurricane season.  According to NOAA’s most recent La Nina Advisory, there is a 60% chance a transition to ENSO neutral conditions will occur this spring.  That means neither La Nina or El Nino conditions are present.  That would be a significant development in the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season.