As the East Coast prepares for a potential encounter with Hurricane Isaias in the coming days, you might be wondering how hurricanes actually get their names.

I know I was.

First of all, the National Hurricane Center has been kind enough to provide a pronunciation guide, so, for the record, Isais is pronounced "ees-ah-EE-ahs".

Of course it's important to plan ahead, but I was surprised to learn that storm names aren't only planned out for a whole go-round of (most of) the alphabet, but they're also set for 6 years at a time, with the National Hurricane Center listing the planned names from 2020 straight through 2025, at which time the list recycles.

There are also separate lists for Atlantic and Pacific storms.

The only times that names are taken off the list is for extremely costly and deadly storms, like Hurricane Andrew (1992), Hurricane Katrina (2005), and of course Sandy (2012).

There are also only 21 names on the Atlantic list, skipping Q, U, X, Y, and Z.

So, if your name is Quentin, Ulysses, Xander, Yolanda, or Zeke, don't wait for an Atlantic hurricane to be named after you.

Without further ado, here's the official list of 2020 Atlantic storms, with links for those that have already happened as of this writing (July 31, 2020):

One final interesting note, while the Atlantic list includes 21 names, the Pacific list includes 24 names, only skipping Q and U. Sorry, Quentin and Ulysses, you're out of luck in both hemispheres.

If you really want to nerd out, you can check out the full lists straight through 2025 by clicking here for the National Hurricane Center.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app
Justin Louis Listen Live
loading...
Follow WOBM on Facebook
loading...

 

Toms River Storm Damage - 4/21/20

More From 92.7 WOBM