I know we are still a few months away until the start of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, but I want to prepare you for a few changes this upcoming season and going forward.
Check out the photos provided by the WMO.
Dorian from the 2019 hurricane season and Laura, Eta and lota from the 2020 hurricane season have been retired from the 6 year rotating lists of Atlantic tropical cyclone names, courtesy of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Hurricane Committee.
WMO Hurricane Committee replaced the retired Dorian and Laura with Dexter and Leah. You may be wondering what are Eta's and lota's replacements? Well, they don't have replacements because the next and last change to the 2021 hurricane season and future seasons is that the Greek alphabet has been discontinued.
The WMO Hurricane Committee said it won't be used because "it creates a distraction from the communication of hazard and storm warnings and is potentially confusing. Instead, a supplemental list of names A-Z (excluding Q, U, X, Y,& Z on the Atlantic list) will be used in lieu of the Greek alphabet when the standard list is exhausted in a given season."
Here is the supplemental list of names for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, in replacement of the Greek alphabet.
The 2020 hurricane season was the most active and had a record number of storms, so many, in fact we had to go to the Greek Alphabet, which was only the second time that has happened. The first time was during the 2005 hurricane season which churned out 28 storms.
I often get the question: why are names retired? The answer: names are retired due to the death and destruction they cause.
Let's hope and pray this hurricane season is much more quiet and we don't get close to having to use the supplemental list.
June 1st will be here before you know it, so stay tuned!
