The 2023 hurricane season officially begins on June 1, and Arlene sits at the top of this year's list of storm names.
The National Hurricane Center moves through an alphabetical list throughout the season.
Though hurricane season lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30, storms can form at any time. It is not uncommon for a storm to be named before June.
The 2023 names
- Arlene
- Bret
- Cindy
- Don
- Emily
- Franklin
- Gert
- Harold
- Idalia
- Jose
- Katia
- Lee
- Margot
- Nigel
- Ophelia
- Philippe
- Rina
- Sean
- Tammy
- Vince
- Whitney
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When are storms named?
Systems are named once they strengthen into tropical or subtropical storms. Categories in order of increasing strength are tropical depression, tropical storm and hurricane (categories 1 through 5).
2023 Atlantic hurricane season names. Graphic courtesy of the National Weather Service New Orleans via Twitter.
2023 early forecast
Researchers from Colorado State University in April predicted that this year's hurricane season would produce slightly fewer storms than average.
The researchers called for 13 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes thanks to expected development of El Niño conditions in the Pacific later in the year.
A longer hurricane season?
The NHC considered extending the official dates for the Atlantic hurricane season after a record-breaking year of activity in 2020.
They ultimately decided to start issuing routine tropical updates on May 15.
2023 supplemental names
Here's the list of supplemental names for the Atlantic hurricane season. These names would be used if the regular list is exhausted.
- Adria
- Braylen
- Caridad
- Deshawn
- Emery
- Foster
- Gemma
- Heath
- Isla
- Jacobus
- Kenzie
- Lucio
- Makayla
- Nolan
- Orlanda
- Pax
- Ronin
- Sophie
- Tayshaun
- Viviana
- Will
