Storm Names

Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms had been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated through a strict procedure by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization.

The six lists above are used in rotation and re-cycled every six years, i.e., the 2014 list will be used again in 2020. The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. If that occurs, then at an annual meeting by the WMO committee (called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it. Several names have been retired since the lists were created. Here is more information the history of naming tropical cyclones and retired names.

If a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date. For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28th, it would take the name from the previous season's list of names. If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season's list of names.

2020 Cristobal

Start Date:	01 Jun 2020
End Date:	01 Jun 2020
Pressure Min:	992
Wind Speed Max:	51
Storm Category:

Description:
Tropical Storm Cristobal was the earliest third named storm in the North Atlantic Ocean on record, breaking the record set by Tropical Storm Colin in 2016, which formed on June 5. It is also the first Atlantic tropical cyclone to form in the month of June since Tropical Storm Cindy in 2017, and the first June tropical cyclone to make landfall in Mexico since Tropical Storm Danielle in 2016. The third named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Cristobal formed on June 1 over the Bay of Campeche from the remnants of Tropical Storm Amanda in the Eastern Pacific. Cristobal then made landfall in the state of Campeche at 13:35 UTC on June 3, 2020, with sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h), causing torrential rainfall throughout the region. It slowly curved northward over Mexico and progressed into the Gulf of Mexico. Cristobal then made a second landfall over southeastern Louisiana at 22:10 UTC on June 7, becoming the second-earliest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Louisiana. The system progressed north through the Mississippi Valley, managing to survive over land as a tropical depression until finally becoming extratropical over southern Wisconsin at 03:00 UTC on June 10 (10 pm CDT on June 9). This extratropical low then moved north past Lake Superior and to near James Bay, before heading northeastward toward the Labrador Sea.

Cristobal's large size led it to have impacts over much of Central America and southern Mexico, as well as the United States Gulf Coast and Midwest. Combined with Amanda, Cristobal led to nearly a week of devastating rainfall across Guatemala, El Salvador, and southern Mexico. Over 230,000 acres of crops were damaged in the Mexican state of Yucatán, leading to a damage estimate of US$184 million. The storm caused the deaths of several people in Mexico and El Salvador. Cristobal also caused multiple tornadoes and waterspouts along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and brought severe weather to the Midwestern U.S. and Eastern Canada. Altogether, Cristobal caused US$675 million in damage and 15 fatalities.

In the event that more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet.