June 1 marks the beginning of the 2023 hurricane season and the National Hurricane Center is prepared with the list of names it will be using when a storm becomes a hurricane.
The NHC started naming storms in 1953. But the names now come from the World Meteorological Organization, which maintains and updates a list that is recycled in a six-year rotation.
The 2023 list will once again be used in 2029.
The names are reused unless they are used on a storm that was “so deadly or costly that the future use of its name for a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity,” according to the NHC.
The names for 2023 are as followed:
- Arlene
- Bret
- Cindy
- Don
- Emily
- Franklin
- Gert
- Harold
- Idalia
- Jose
- Katia
- Lee
- Margot
- Nigel
- Ophelia
- Philippe
- Rina
- Sean
- Tammy
- Vince
- Whitney
If there are more than 21 hurricanes this year, the NHC will then use a list of alternate names that have already been approved by the WMO.
Those names include:
- Adria
- Braylen
- Caridad
- Deshawn
- Emery
- Foster
- Gemma
- Heath
- Isla
- Jacobus
- Kenzie
- Lucio
- Makayla
- Nolan
- Orlanda
- Pax
- Ronin
- Sophie
- Tayshaun
- Viviana
- Will
Hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.