How Do They Come Up with Hurricane Names?

Hurricane Beryl, the second named storm of the 2024 hurricane season, became just the 10^th hurricane on record to make landfall in Texas in July, hitting near the Gulf Coast town of Matagorda as a Category 1 hurricane with 90+ mph winds.

Beryl was a record-setter in many ways, becoming the earliest Category 4 storm and then the earliest Category 5 storm on record.

“Beryl transitioned from a tropical storm to a major hurricane with huge increases in wind speed, gaining 95 mph in less than two days, a process known as rapid intensification. It broke the Category 4 and Category 5 records held by two separate storms in 2005, one of the most catastrophic seasons on record,” reported the Austin American-Statesman.

Beryl lashed the Houston area as it downgraded to a tropical storm, bringing double-digit rainfall totals and flooding to communities.

“Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm indicates the hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said,” reported the Associated Press.

While Beryl was unique in many ways, the name of the storm and then hurricane was not unique as it is part of a group of rotating storm names that get recycled every six years.

We Have Seen Hurricane Beryl Before

Since tropical names for storms are recycled every six years, we have seen Beryl before, including a Category 1 Hurricane in 2018. Here are the “Beryl” reports from the National Hurricane Center since 2000:

2018: Beryl was an unusual, but not unique, small-size hurricane (July 4-15) that developed in the tropical Atlantic between Africa and the Lesser Antilles.

• There were no reports of damage or casualties associated with Beryl. More than 47,000 customers in Puerto Rico briefly lost electricity due to squally weather associated with the remnants of Beryl. Power outages also were reported on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, where officials ordered the closure of schools and government offices. The National Weather Service indicated that 1 to 5 inches of rain fell across Puerto Rico and the island experienced sustained winds of 25 to 30 kt. Several landslides were reported.

2012: Beryl was a pre-season tropical storm (May 26-30) that made landfall in northeastern Florida and subsequently affected portions of the southeastern United States. It was the strongest pre-season tropical cyclone of record to make landfall in the United States.

• Beryl directly caused one death when a severe thunderstorm associated with the cyclone blew down a tree onto an SUV in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, killing the occupant. The storm caused minor property damage in the United States, but the insured amounts were less than the $25 million dollar threshold used by the Property Claims Service to declare a catastrophe. Thus, an estimated damage figure is not available.

2006: Beryl passed over Nantucket, Massachusetts, but produced minimal impacts there or elsewhere.

• There are no reports of casualties associated with Beryl. The storm did not have a serious impact on Nantucket; the storm surge there was only about 1 ft, no wind damage was reported on the island, and the rainfall was relatively light. There were also no reports of damages elsewhere due to Beryl.

2000: Beryl was a weak tropical storm that moved over the southwest Gulf of Mexico and across the northeast coast of Mexico, and eventually dissipated inland over the mountains of northern Mexico.

• There was one reported drowning death in northeast Mexico caused by the extensive flooding associated with Beryl’s heavy rains and relatively slow movement. No reports of U.S. damages or casualties were received by the National Hurricane Center.

How Storms and Hurricanes Get Their Names

Since 1953, according to the National Hurricane Center, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated through a strict procedure by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) .

The six lists (each with 21 names) are used in rotation and recycled every six years. So, we already know the storm names for the rest of 2024 and all the way through 2029:

• 2024 Atlantic Storm Names: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Francine, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Milton, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sara, Tony, Valerie, William.
  
  
• 2025 Atlantic Storm Names: Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dexter, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Imelda, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van, Wendy.
  
  
• 2026 Atlantic Storm Names: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Leah, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, Wilfred.
  
  
• 2027 Atlantic Storm Names: Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Elsa, Fred, Grace, Henri, Imani, Julian, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor, Wanda.
  
  
• 2028 Atlantic Storm Names: Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Farrah, Gaston, Hermine, Idris, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Martin, Nicole, Owen, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tobias, Virginie, Walter.
  
  
• 2029 Atlantic Storm Names: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harold, Idalia, Jose, Katia, Lee, Margot, Nigel, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, Whitney.
  
  

If more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, any additional storms will take names from an alternate list of names approved by the WMO.

There are similar lists for Eastern North Pacific storms (six years recycled) and Central North Pacific storms (four years recycled).

The History of Naming Storms

The WMO says that naming storms helps to avoid confusion among meteorologists, media, emergency management agencies, and the public.

“Historically, storms have been named for a long time, but haphazardly and after the fact. For example, an Atlantic storm that ripped the mast off a boat named Antje would become known as Antje's hurricane,” says the WMO. “As weather forecasting developed as a science, storms were identified by their latitude-longitude.”

It soon became clear that using short distinctive names for storms was more efficient and less subject to error.

“Using female names for storms started in the middle of the 20th century. 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.,” says the WMO.

Male names were introduced for storms starting in 1979, alternating with female names.

“WMO has now developed strict procedures to determine a list of tropical cyclone names. There are different rules for naming cyclones in different parts of the world. 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,” says the WMO.

Will Beryl Be Retired as a Storm Name?

Beryl has gained enough notoriety and been destructive enough that it could be retired as a storm name after this hurricane season.

“The only time that there is a 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 occurs, then at an annual meeting by the committee (called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending name is stricken from the list, and another name is selected to replace it,” says the National Hurricane Center.

Some destructive hurricane names remain in rotation if the storms occurred prior to the hurricane naming convention in 1950.

The Weather Channel says that through 2022 there were 96 hurricane or tropical storm names that have been retired.

Last year, no Atlantic storm names were retired for the first time since 2014.

Here are the retired Atlantic storm names and the year retired:

• 1954: Carol, Hazel, Edna.
• 1955: Connie, Diane, Ione, Janet.
• 1957: Audrey.
• 1960: Donna.
• 1961: Carla, Hattie.
• 1963: Flora.
• 1964: Cleo, Dora, Hilda.
• 1965: Betsy.
• 1966: Inez.
• 1967: Beulah.
• 1969: Camille.
• 1970: Celia.
• 1972: Agnes.
• 1974: Carmen, Fifi.
• 1975: Eloise.
• 1977: Anita.
• 1978: Greta.
• 1979: David, Frederic.
• 1980: Allen.
• 1983: Alicia.
• 1985: Elena, Gloria.
• 1988: Gilbert, Joan.
• 1989: Hugo.
• 1990: Diana, Klaus.
• 1991: Bob.
• 1992: Andrew.
• 1995: Luis, Marilyn, Opal, Roxanne.
• 1996: Cesar, Fran, Hortense.
• 1998: Georges, Mitch.
• 1999: Floyd, Lenny.
• 2000: Keith.
• 2001: Allison, Iris, Michelle.
• 2002: Isidore, Lili.
• 2003: Fabian, Isabel, Juan.
• 2004: Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne.
• 2005: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, Wilma.
• 2007: Dean, Felix, Noel.
• 2008: Gustave, Ike, Paloma.
• 2010: Igor, Tomas.
• 2011: Irene.
• 2012: Sandy.
• 2013: Ingrid.
• 2015: Erika, Joaquin.
• 2016: Mathew, Otto.
• 2017: Harvey, Irma, Maria, Nate.
• 2018: Florence, Michael.
• 2019: Dorian.
• 2020: Luara, Eta, Iota.
• 2021: Ida.
• 2022: Fiona, Ian.

If Beryl should be retired, then a new name will be selected on the following criteria:

• Short in character length for ease of use in communication.
• Easy to pronounce.
• Appropriate significance in different languages.
• Uniqueness – same names cannot be used in other regions.