Catherine Rusoff
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins next week, and the list of 2024 hurricane names ranges from Alberto to William.
All hurricanes and tropical storms have a predetermined name defined by the World Meteorological Organization before the start of the season.
Hurricane season will officially begin on Saturday, June 1, and runs until the end of November.
The 2024 Hurricane Names List
Here are the storm names for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
These names can be applied to hurricanestropical storms and other systems that originate in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Alberto
- Beryl
- Chris
- Debbie
- Ernesto
- Francine
- Gordon
- Helena
- Isaac
- Joyce
- Kirk
- Leslie
- Milton
- Nadine
- Oscar
- Patty
- Rafael
- Sara
- Tara
- Valeria
- William
There are six alphabetical lists of names that rotate every six years, so names used in 2024 will be used again in 2030.
The last time this list was used it was in 2018.
The organization also has a supplemental list of storm names that will be used if we run out of alphabetical names. This has only happened twice in the last 15 years. Experts have already warned that of Climate Change could cause a increase in hurricane intensity and other severe storms.
The list of hurricane names for the 2023 season
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season saw 19 named storms in the region, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Storms named during the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season were:
- Tropical Storm Arlene
- Tropical Storm Bret
- Tropical Storm Cindy
- Hurricane Don
- Tropical Storm Gert
- Tropical Storm Emily
- Hurricane Franklin
- Tropical Storm Haroldo
- Hurricane Idália
- Tropical Storm José
- Tropical Storm Kátia
- Hurricane Lee
- Hurricane Margot
- Hurricane Nigel
- Tropical Storm Ophelia
- Tropical Storm Philippe
- Tropical Storm Rina
- Tropical Storm Sean
- Hurricane Tammy
The list of retired hurricane names
From time to time, storm names are removed and replaced. Typically, this only happens if a storm is so “deadly or costly that future use of its name in a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious sensitivity reasons.” according to the National Hurricane Center.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, 94 names were retired since 1953. Some of the most notable retired names are:
- Katrina, who later retired Katrina hurricane crashed in New Orleans in 2005;
- Irene, who retired later Hurricane Irene affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast in 2011;
- Sandy, after Hurricane Sandythe largest Atlantic hurricane on record, measured in diameter, hit the east coast in 2012;
- Harvey, who retired after Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas and Louisiana in 2017;
- Irma, who later retired Hurricane Irma caused widespread destruction in Florida in 2017;
- Maria, who retired later Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017;
- Ida, who later retired Hurricane Idathe second most damaging and intense hurricane to hit the US coast, made landfall in Louisiana
How Hurricanes Get Their Names
O predetermined storm list names is relatively new. Names used to be chosen more randomly, but using pre-assigned titles helps meteorologists and the public keep track of storms.
Previously, storms would be named after their occurrence and usually in relation to something that happened during the incident: for example, a storm that hit a boat called Antje and destroyed its mast was called “Antje’s hurricane”. Others may be known by the area they reached.
The National Hurricane Center began using name lists in 1953. At first, storms were categorized only by women’s names. In 1979, the lists began to alternate between female and male names. This was also when the six current lists entered the rotation.
