GOODBYE GREEK

The World Meteorological Organization is who is in charge of naming tropical systems. They use a list of names using the all the letters of the English alphabet, except the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z. That leaves 21 letters of the alphabet for storm names each season. There are 6 rotating lists currently in use. 2005 was the 1st time ever that the 21 names on a list had ever been exhausted. It was determined then, as we got closer to using all the names, that if there was another storm to develop after the W storm, that we'd then use the letters of the Greek alphabet to name anymore storms that season.

That 2005 season ended up having a then record 27 named storms that season, with tropical storm Zeta forming on December 31st that year. It wasn't until this past hurricane season (2020), that we saw the list exhausted for a 2nd time. But this time it happened still in the peak of the season (mid September).

Not only did the 2020 season break all the records for named storms (30), those late Greek letter named storms were the most devastating of the season, with 4 Greek named storms reaching major hurricane status, with 3 of those hitting category 4 or better, with the very last storm of the season, hurricane Iota, hitting cat 5. Iota, of course, meant that we were 9 letters deep into the Greek alphabet.

When there are devastating and powerfully destructive storms, the WMO will retire that name. For example, a storm that affected Texas in a huge way, since this is Texas Tropics, hurricane Harvey. The name Harvey will no longer be used, it's been retired, so that in the future, no one will confuse it with the destruction it caused in 2017. Harvey has been replaced with Harold.


Because of the record breaking number of storms, and the possibility of having the list of names exhausted more often, the WMO has decided that we will no longer use the Greek alphabet when that happens. A couple of reasons they're citing is 1) too many of the letters sound the same (Beta, Zeta, Eta, Theta), and 3 of those come in succession. This was a little confusing to some in the Latin countries. 2) Because of how powerful and destructive some of these Greek named storms were, 2 of them ended up getting retired (Eta and Iota). The thought then was, how do you replace a Greek letter if it were to be retired?

The solution - the WMO has decided to use an alternate list of 21 names, using the English alphabet, and, of course, skipping the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z. This alternate list will be in play every year, and if a storm from that list were to ever be retired, it would simply be replaced with a name with the corresponding letter, just like it's always been done.

The first name on the 2021 list is Ana. The last name on the list is Wanda. Should a storm form after Wanda, the alternate list will take effect and instead of Alpha, we will have Adria.

Here's the list of names for the 2021 season, followed by the alternate list:
  • Ana
  • Bill
  • Claudette
  • Danny
  • Elsa
  • Fred
  • Grace
  • Henri
  • Ida
  • Julian
  • Kate
  • Larry
  • Mindy
  • Nicholas
  • Odette
  • Peter
  • Rose
  • Sam
  • Teresa
  • Victor
  • Wanda
The alternate list, in play every year:
  • Adria
  • Braylen
  • Caridad
  • Deshawn
  • Emery
  • Foster
  • Gemma
  • Heath
  • Isla
  • Jacobus
  • Kenzie
  • Lucio
  • Makayla
  • Nolan
  • Orlanda
  • Pax
  • Ronin
  • Sophie
  • Tayshaun
  • Viviana
  • Will

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