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 Fay

Start Date:	09 Jul 2020
End Date:	09 Jul 2020
Pressure Min:	998
Wind Speed Max:	51
Storm Category:

Description:
At 00:00 UTC July 5, shortly after the formation of Tropical Storm Edouard, the NHC began to track an area of disorganized cloudiness and showers in relation to a nearly stationary surface trough in the Gulf of Mexico. After meandering over the Gulf, the disturbance moved northeast towards the coast of the Florida Panhandle, and would subsequently move inland by 12:00 UTC July 6. 2 days later, the system re-emerged over the coast of Georgia. Once offshore, the system began to organize as deep convection blossomed over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. Three hours later, data from a Hurricane Hunter Reconnaissance Aircraft along with satellite and radar imagery showed that the center had reformed near the edge of the primary convective mass, prompting the NHC to initiate advisories on Tropical Storm Fay at 21:00 UTC, located just 40 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras.

Immediately upon formation, tropical storm warnings were issued for the coasts of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, as the system moved north at 7 mph. Fay intensified slightly to 50 mph by 09:00 UTC July 10 as it moved north. Three hours later, surface observations and radar data showed that gale-force winds now stretched to the system's northwest; which caused a tropical storm warning to be issued along the coast of Delaware. Fay continued to strengthen and reached its peak intensity with 60 mph winds and a minimum barometric pressure of 999 milllibars. Fay made landfall east-northeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey at 21:00 UTC July 10. Just six hours after making landfall, satellite and radar data showed Fay was no longer generating organized deep convection as it rapidly weakened inland. At 06:00 UTC July 11, Fay weakened to a tropical depression situated 50 miles north of New York City, and degenerated into a post-tropical cyclone three hours later, located 30 miles south of Albany, New York.

Six people were directly killed due to rip currents and storm surge associated with Fay. Overall, losses from the storm on the US Eastern Coast were estimated at a preliminary US$400 million based on wind and storm surge damage on residential, commercial, and industrial properties. Fay's July 9 formation was the earliest for a sixth named storm in the Atlantic, surpassing the record set by Tropical Storm Franklin, which formed on July 21, 2005.

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.