If you've wondered if a hurricane will ever share your name, there's an easy way to check. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) keeps a list of names it uses. There are different names for each region of the world, and each region has six rotating lists.
That means that "Florence" can show up as hurricane names in 2024. But that's unlikely. The WMO retires the names of cyclones that are "particularly deadly or costly."
Here are the names that are designated for the "Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic" region — for storms that affect the US (scroll down for a searchable version of this list):
Head over to the WMO site to see if your name is applied to cyclones from other regions of the world.
Hurricanes, the WMO notes, aren't named after particular people. They're selected because they're familiar to people in different regions. That way, they're easy to remember and recognize for hurricane awareness and preparation.
Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic Names:
2018
Alberto Beryl Chris Debby Ernesto Florence Gordon Helene Isaac Joyce Kirk Leslie Michael Nadine Oscar Patty Rafael Sara Tony Valerie William
2019
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Jacob Shamsian is a correspondent on Business Insider's Enterprise news desk. He is also a Global Reporter for Axel Springer.He was previously on BI's Legal Affairs desk, covering major litigation, courtroom trials, and the legal industry.Jacob has reported on the criminal trials of Donald Trump, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried, Sean "Diddy" Combs, R. Kelly, and Anna Sorokin (AKA Anna Delvey), He's also covered blockbuster civil trials, including both E. Jean Carroll v. Trump trials, the New York Attorney General's fraud trial against Trump, Sarah Palin v. The New York Times, and Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard.His stories have been cited in judicial rulings, lawsuits, letters from congressional committees, and in numerous media publications. He was a pool reporter in Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial.Jacob has been interviewed on CNN, the docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly," ABC's "Good Morning America," and BBC News, among other programs. His work has been cited by media outlets, including The New York Times, Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and New York magazine. He's also written for GQ, The Awl, The New Republic, Entertainment Weekly, Time, and Modern Farmer.You can reach Jacob on Signal at JacobShamsian.07.
