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 Hanna

Start Date:	23 Jul 2020
End Date:	23 Jul 2020
Pressure Min:	973
Wind Speed Max:	81
Storm Category:

Description:
At 06:00 UTC July 19, the NHC noted a tropical wave over eastern Hispaniola and the nearby waters for possible development. The disturbance moved generally west-northwestwards towards Cuba and the Straits of Florida, passing through the latter by 12:00 UTC July 21. In the Gulf of Mexico, where conditions were more favorable for development, the system began to steadily organize as a broad low pressure area formed within it. Surface observations along with data from an Air Force Hurricane Hunter Aircraft showed that the area of low pressure developed a closed circulation along with a well-defined center, prompting the NHC to issue advisories on Tropical Depression Eight at 03:00 UTC July 23. The depression continued to become better organized throughout the day, and 24 hours after forming, it strengthened into a tropical storm, receiving the name Hanna. With the system's intensification to a tropical storm on July 24, it broke the record for the earliest eighth-named storm, being named 10 days earlier than the previous record of August 3, set by Tropical Storm Harvey of 2005.

The system trekked westwards and steadily strengthened. Over the ensuing 24 hours, Hanna underwent rapid intensification as its inner core and convection became better organized. By 12:00 UTC July 25, radar and data from another Hurricane Hunter Aircraft showed that Hanna had intensified into the first hurricane of the season. Hanna continued to strengthen further, reaching its peak intensity with 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) winds by 21:00 UTC on July 25, before making landfall an hour later at Padre Island, Texas. After making a second landfall in Kenedy County, Texas at the same intensity at 23:15 UTC, the system then began to rapidly weaken, dropping to tropical depression status at 22:15 UTC the next day after crossing into Northeastern Mexico. Hanna was the first hurricane to make landfall in Texas since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Immediately after the system was classified as a tropical depression, tropical storm watches were issued for much of the Texas shoreline. At 21:00 UTC July 24, a hurricane warning was issued from Baffin Bay to Mesquite Bay, Texas, due to Hanna being forecast to become a hurricane before landfall. The storm bought storm surge flooding, destructive winds, torrential rainfall, flash flooding and isolated tornadoes to an area already hard hit by the coronavirus. At least five fatalities have been reported.

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.