Hurricane Names Go Greek

Hurricane Center May Run Out of Names

Only 21 names are reserved each year for hurricanes. The letters q, u, x, y, and z are not used.

The same list rotates every six years, so names are reused. The names of historical storms like Hugo and Andrew are retired. Katrina will certainly be retired.

When the names run out (which has not happened since alphabetic names have been used) they will use Greek letters: Alpha, Beta Gamma, up to Omega The cited article above does not say what happens if they ever have to retire Alpha.

One thought on “Hurricane Names Go Greek

  1. I think skipping letters sends the wrong message: if something is hard, then skip it. There are plenty of good names that start with Q like Quinton, Queenie, Quibilah, Qadry, Quincy, and Quebecky.

    They are watching Tropical Storm Vince now, but there are no other storms forming, so they still have W before they get to Greek letters.

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