The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1. And it could be a very busy one.
Early speculation is that this could be a hyper-charged season for the Atlantic basin as far as the number of storms is concerned. The Atlantic basin includes the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Colorado State University released its early-season hurricane outlook on April 4 and said, among other things, that the 2024 summer and fall could be “extremely active” when it comes to hurricanes and tropical storms.
Here are the numbers from the CSU early-season forecast:
* Named storms: 23 (NOAA average is 14)
* Hurricanes: 11 (average is 7)
* Major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger storms): 5 (average is 3)
The NOAA hurricane outlook will be released in May.
If CSU is right and there end up being 23 named storms in 2024 in the Atlantic then forecasters will run out of names.
The 2024 list of storm names for the Atlantic only goes to 21.
Here are the 21 names for tropical storms and hurricanes for 2024:
* Alberto
* Beryl
* Chris
* Debby
* Ernesto
* Francine
* Gordon
* Helene
* Isaac
* Joyce
* Kirk
* Leslie
* Milton
* Nadine
* Oscar
* Patty
* Rafael
* Sara
* Tony
* Valerie
* William
The 2024 Atlantic storm names come from a set list that is recycled every six years. So the 2024 list was last used in 2018. Not appearing on the 2024 list are the names Florence and Michael, which were retired and will never be used again. Names are retired if a storm is particularly devastating or deadly.
So what happens if forecasters run out of names in 2024? It would be a bit different than in years past.
According to information from the National Hurricane Center, any “extra” storms will take names from an alternate list of names approved by the World Meteorological Organization.
Before 2021 forecasters resorted to using the Greek alphabet to name storms after exhausting the original list. Since then an alternate name list has been devised that doesn’t rely on the Greek alphabet and instead carries on the tradition of using male and female names.
Here’s the supplemental list of names: Adria, Braylen, Caridad, Deshawn, Emery, Foster, Gemma, Heath, Isla, Jacobus, Kenzie, Lucio, Makayla, Nola, Orlanda, Pax, Ronin, Sophie, Tayshaun, Viviana and Will.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 until Nov. 30.