NAMING OF HURRICANES AND THE NAMES OF THE 2020 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON June 1st to November 30th T he World Meteorological Organization (WMO) maintains lists of hurricanes for each of the tropical cyclone prone areas of the world. The Atlantic area also 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 passed to the WMO in 1953. The storms and hurricanes are referred to as Tropical Cyclones. The list of names comprises 21 alternating names of men and women. The names of men were not included until 1979. The list is re-cycled in the sixth year. This means that for example, a list used in 2019 is re-cycled in 2025. Whenever there is a need for more than 21 names in a season, the Greek alphabet is used. 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 the calendar year are given names from the next season’s list. The names of hurricanes which prove deadly (loss of life) or costly in terms of damage are retired so they will not be confused with any subsequent storms that could carry the same names. It is also considered as a gesture of human sensitivity. NOTE: Arthur, Bertha and Cristobal all appeared by June 2nd, 2020. This was the first time that three named storms had appeared so early in the season. 10
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