No Longer Will Tropical Systems Be Named Florence And Michael
Hurricane Florence (image: NOAA).
The World Meteorological Organization made the announcement today that the names of Florence and Michael have been retired from the rotating list of storm names. When storms are so deadly or destructive, the WMO will retire the names from future use as that would be insensitive for those affected. The new names picked to replace Florence and Michael are Francine and Milton. I can just see it now, we’ll have a tropical storm or hurricane called “Uncle Milton” a reference to the nickname given to acting legend, Milton Berle.
At this time, there are six alphabetical lists of names alternating between male and female that rotates on a six-year cycle. The names that will be used in 2019 will be:
Andrea
Barry
Chantal
Dorian
Erin
Fernand
Gabrielle
Humberto
Imelda
Jerry
Karen
Lorenzo
Melissa
Nestor
Olga
Pablo
Rebekah
Sebastien
Tanya
Van
Wendy
In the event that more than 21 named storms form in the Atlantic Basin, additional storms will be named from the Greek alphabet.
After today’s announcement, a total of 88 names have been retired from the list of Atlantic Basin storm names since 1953, the year when storms began to be named. In case you are wondering, the year that featured the most storm names that were retired was 2005 when five were removed from the rotating lists.
About the Author (Author Profile)
Scott Martin is an operational meteorologist, professional graphic artist, musician, husband, and father. Not only is Scott a member of the National Weather Association, but he is also the Central Alabama Chapter of the NWA president. Scott is also the co-founder of Racecast Weather, which provides forecasts for many racing series across the USA. He also supplies forecasts for the BassMaster Elite Series events including the BassMaster Classic.Subscribe
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