23 THE NAMES FOR THE 2021 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON – JUNE 1 – NOVEMBER 30 T he World Meteorological Organization (WMO) maintains lists of hurricanes for each of the tropical cyclone prone areas of the world. The storms and hurricanes are referred to as Tropical Cyclones. The Atlantic Basin includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. This action is in keeping with a convention that was agreed to in 1950 to formally name Atlantic hurricanes. A list was originally kept by the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in the USA. The responsibility was passed to the WMO in 1953. The list of names for the 2021 season comprises 21 alternating names of men and women. The names of men were not included until 1979. The list is recycled in the sixth year. This means that for example a list used in 2019 is recycled in 2025. In cases in which storms occur in December they are given names from the list for the current season. On the other hand, storms which occur very early in a year are given names from the next season’s list. Prior to 2021 whenever there was a need for more than 21 names in a season, the Greek alphabet was used as it was in 2005 and 2020. The supplementary Greek alphabet list was adopted as a solution to a challenge that emerges when there are more than 21 named storms in a single Atlantic Hurricane Season. This can occur because names for storms are not created with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z. The Hurricane Committee of the WMO decided recently that it would dispense with the system of using Greek alphabet letters as supplementary names for hurricanes. Storm names are retired from the list when they are especially deadly or destructive. When the names are retired we are assured that any reference made later on can only be to those particular storms or hurricanes and not a predecessor or successor system with the same name. However, because retirement only occurs with the really destructive systems the names of storms that do little or no damage might be repeated. In that regard four names were removed from the rotating list after the 2020 season. The names removed were Dorian, Laura and the Greek names of Eta and Iota. They caused death and/or significant damage somewhere in the hemisphere. The Hurricane Committee has decided that Dorian will be replaced by Dexter, and Laura by Leah. It should be noted that although there was a lobby to officially start the Hurricane season in May instead of June, the start of the season will remain June 1. The supplemental names for 2021 are: Adria, Braylen, Caridad, Deshawn, Emery, Foster, Gemma, Heath, Isla, Jacobus, Kenzie, Lucio, Makayla, Nolan, Orlanda, Pax, Ronin, Sophie, Tayshaun, Viviana and Will. Continues on next page
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