2021 Hurricane Names

5/6/2021 (Permalink)

Some hurricanes have their names remembered much longer like Hurricane Charlie that ravaged Florida in 2004.

Hurricane Names for the 2021 Season

Although a hurricane or tropical storm isn't confined to certain dates on the calendar, June 1 through November 30 is considered Atlantic hurricane season. In advance of this season each year, the World Meteorological Organization releases the list of names to be used on tropical storms and hurricanes that year. This list goes in alphabetical order and alternates between male and female names. The lists feature 21 names, with the other five letters of the alphabet being skipped for a lack of available names associated with those letters. Each of the lists is used on a rotating basis every six years to simplify the naming process. This means that the list used for the 2021 season is the same as that used in the 2015 season.
The only changes made to the list are retired names. Storm names are occasionally retired when a tropical storm or hurricane is especially costly to an area or deadly, as using the name again is considered insensitive. For example, Hurricane Joaquin slammed the Bahamas in 2015, causing 34 deaths while Tropical Storm Erika rolled over the Antilles and caused 31 fatalities. These two names were retired from the list in 2015. Other notable names that have been retired over the years include Katrina, Harvey, Irma, Ivan, and Stan. The letter I leads the list in the number of names retired from the list at 11, followed by nine each for C and F.

During a particularly active tropical season, this list of names may be all used up, in which case an extra list is used for backup. This backup list used to be based on the Greek alphabet but is now simply another 21-name list following the same male and female rotation.

The list for 2021 features the following names: 

1. Ana
2. Bill
3. Claudette
4. Danny
5. Elsa
6. Fred
7. Grace
8. Henri
9. Ida
10. Julian
11. Kate
12. Larry
13. Mindy
14. Nicholas
15. Odette
16. Peter
17. Rose
18. Sam
19. Teresa
20. Victor
21. Wanda