ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — You might have noticed that every few years tropical systems names get used once again. In fact, the names used for a tropical season get reused six years later. Meaning that the names that are used this year will once again be used in the 2028 Atlantic season.
There are six years worth of names that get recycled, but the only way a name gets changed is when a name is retired from being so deadly or costly.
We have had several names get retired in recent years. Ida, Laura, Dorian, Michael, Harvey and Irma are a few recent ones that come to mind. Those names will no longer be in the six-year rotation.
For example, Hurricane Irma from 2017 has now been replaced with Idalia for the 2023 hurricane season. The World Meteorological Organization is in charge of determining if a name should be retired at an annual meeting.
The original names were all women's names until 1979 when men's names were introduced. Now women's and men's names are alternated every other storm throughout the season. Names are also selected to be familiar to the people living in the region or area that these storms could impact.
The list of names covers 21 letters in the alphabet, just not Q, U, X, Y and Z. What happens if all those names are used in an active season?
Until 2020, the Greek alphabet was used after the 21 names were used, that only happened twice in 2005 and 2020. Starting in 2021, the Greek alphabet was replaced with a supplemental list of names. That list will be supplemental for every year, but names can also be retired and replaced from that list too.
