Tropical storm watch: An announcement that sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph are possible within the specified area within 48 hours in association with a tropical, subtropical, or post-tropical cyclone. Tropical Storm Beta was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles (65 kilometers) per hour in the Gulf of Mexico, some 280 miles off the mouth of the Rio Grande, the National Hurricane Center said. If there are more than 21 named storms in a given year, the Greek alphabet is used for subsequent storms. The National Hurricane Center started officially naming hurricanes, but not tropical storms, in 1950. Forecasters learned that short, distinctive names for tropical storms and hurricanes improved communication and helped avoid confusion. The United States began using female names for storms in 1953, before which a now-extinct phonetic alphabet was used. Tropical Storm Isaias has officially become the ninth named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. Since naming tropical storms and hurricanes began during the mid-1900s, there has been only one year where there were more than 21 named storms in a single hurricane season. The United Nations have teams that report to the World Meteorological Organization. There will never be another tropical storm named Katrina again and the World Meteorological Organization replaces the name the next time they have a meeting. And after a pledge from NOW to the National Weather Service, hurricanes officially started to be named after both men and women in 1979. Frederick and David were retired because of the damage they did in 1979. Also, in the event that more than 21 named tropical cyclones occur in a season, any additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet. BREAKING: Tropical Storm #Wilfred has formed in the Atlantic. Research shows that hurricanes are getting stronger and wetter. In 2012, The Weather Channel announced that it will be naming “noteworthy winter storms,” just as tropical storms are named. Naming Hurricanes and tropical storms has a long history, but names for winter storms only built up steam in the last couple years. They gave each storm a name in order to distinguish the cyclones from each other more quickly than referring to each storm by its position. The first three male names used, Bob, David and Frederick have all been retired because they did tremendous damage. Naming progresses through the year with names assigned in alphabetical order. Official naming of tropical systems began in 1953. The National Hurricane Center began formally naming storms in 1950. Since naming tropical storms and hurricanes began during the mid-1900s, there has been only one year where there were more than 21 named storms in a single hurricane season. The most that have ever been observed in the Atlantic was 27 named systems back in 2005 when we made it all the way to Tropical Storm Zeta, but Zeta didn’t form until December 30th of that year. In 1957, the National Weather Service began naming a tropical storm when it reached hurricane force. According to the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center, the United States began using female names for storms in 1953 and later added male names in 1979. Instead, she suggested that they’d be named after Senators, who seem to have, she said, “delight in having things named after them." Seven major hurricanes formed, with 27 named storms spinning up between June 2005 and January 2006. The last three letters of the alphabet aren't usually needed as there aren't typically that many storms, but the full list was used up in 2005 when a record-breaking 28 named storms hit. Hope this helps clear things up a few things about Tropical Storm names. From roughly 1953 to 1979, U.S. hurricanes and tropical storms were actually only named after women. During the 1890s and early 1900s, an Australian meteorologist by the name of Clement Wragge was credited as the first individual to started using women's names to identify tropical cyclones. Right now, the record is held by 1916, when nine tropical cyclones made landfall. To keep things fair, we only included hurricanes since 1979, as all hurricanes were given female names between 1953 and that year. Names can be repeated after an interval of six years, but the names of especially severe storms are permanently retired from use. The very first Tropical Storm Alpha formed in October 2005 during an epic and damaging Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Depression 19 is forecast to become a named tropical storm later today as it enters the eastern Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Weather Service New Orleans, and The Greek alphabet has only been utilized once before, during the infamous hurricane season of 2005. Having reached the end of the alphabetical list of 21 Atlantic tropical storm names for 2020 with Tropical Storm #Wilfred today, the naming protocol for all subsequent storms will now consist of names pulled from the Greek alphabet as decided by the World Meteorological Organization.. Subtropical storm #Alpha, also named today, is the first storm to take a name from the first … They also average more storms per year and tend to need more names. US meteorologists working in the Pacific Ocean began naming tropical cyclones during World War 2, when they often had to track multiple storms. Bob was retired after a hurricane by that name hit New England in 1991. The first US named hurricane (unofficially … The second storm is given the name that begins with a "B." For that reason, the World Meteorological Organization develops a list of names that are assigned in alphabetical order to tropical storms as they are discovered in each hurricane season. The naming system that we use today for Atlantic storms began in 1953. The year with the most documented tropical storms was 1933, when there were 21 in the Atlantic Basin, but this was before hurricanes were routinely named. The 22nd storm would be named Tropical Storm Alpha, the 23rd would be Tropical Storm … The practice of naming Atlantic tropical storms dates at least back to 1953, when the National Hurricane Center began to compile lists of names in the United States. This means we’ve now used all 21 names of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and will start using the Greek alphabet. In all, there are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet that can be used. 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