Tropical Storm Arthur swirled to life over the weekend and the Outer Banks of North Carolina braced for storm-force winds and rain as tropical storm warnings were issued.
Arthur’s impact will be felt two weeks before the official opening of the 2020 hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center designated 21 names for storms in the Atlantic basin. It is a tradition the Hurricane Center initiated in 1953.
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They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The list of names are rotated every six years. If a hurricane name is retired, a different name is substituted in its place. A decision to retire the name of Hurricane Dorian, which devastated the Bahamas during 2019, will not be made until 2021.
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Michael and Florence, devastating storms in 2018, are the last storms to be retired.
Here are the names of this year’s storms:
· Arthur
· Bertha
· Cristobal
· Dolly
· Eduoard
· Fay
· Gonzalo
· Hanna
· Isaias
· Josephine
· Kyle
· Laura
· Marco
· Nana
· Omar
· Paulette
· Rene
· Sally
· Teddy
· Vicky
· Wilfred
According to the National Hurricane Center, storms were named solely after women until 1978. However, since 1979, male and female names were used for storms in the Atlantic basin.
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