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New backup hurricane list may soon be activated

Couple more storms until supplemental list kicks in

Hurricane season ends November 30 with plenty of time for Vince and Whitney potentially forming before switching to the supplemental list.

There have been 20 tropical cyclones this year in the Atlantic nearly exhausting the entire list of names allocated for the season.

What happens if we go past the next two unused names? Well, we are not going back to the Greek alphabet like 2020 when eight more storms came after Tropical Storm Wilfred.

If another storm arrives this year after Vince and Whitney, a list of new never used hurricane names will be chosen.

Two years ago the group in charge of hurricane names announced it would no longer use the Greek alphabet as a backup list when the number of storms go into overtime.

The World Meteorological Organization will use a supplemental list of names starting with Adria, Braylen, Caridad, Deshawn, Emery, Foster, Gemma and Heath.

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The supplemental list follows the same rules as the main Atlantic hurricane season naming list, which excludes the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z since those letters are not common enough or easily understood in local languages.

Only twice has the standard list of names run out of names in 2005 and during the hyperactive hurricane season in 2020.


About the Author
Mark Collins headshot

After covering the weather from every corner of Florida and doing marine research in the Gulf, Mark Collins settled in Jacksonville to forecast weather for The First Coast.

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