With the start of the Atlantic Hurricane season less than 100 days away, the National Hurricane Centre has released the list of names for the storms expected for the 2021 season.
First up, is Ana.
There were 30 named storms in 2020, the last of which was Iota.
Since 1953, 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 Organisation.
The names of hurricanes are recycled every six years and in instances where storms are especially severe, the names are retired.
If this occurs, the offending name is stricken at an annual meeting of the World Meteorological Organisation and another name selected to replace it.
Two names from the 2015 list-which is being recycled this year- were retired and replaced.
Tropical Storm Erika caused devastating floods in Dominica and Hurricane Joaquin which dealt a severe blow to parts of The Bahamas.
These two names have been replaced by Elsa and Julian.
If a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date.
For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28th, it would take the name from the previous season’s list of names. If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season’s list of names.
If more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet.
The Atlantic Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.
The 21 named storms for the 2021 season are:
Ana
Bill
Claudette
Danny
Elsa
Fred
Grace
Henri
Ida
Julian
Kate
Larry
Mindy
Nicholas
Odette
Peter
Rose
Sam
Teresa
Victor
Wanda
