Atlantic Hurricane Season Is 100 Days Away. Here Are The Storms You Could See.

 Jonathan Belles

Published: February 21, 2023

Hurricane season might be the last thing that comes to mind in late February, but Tuesday marks 100 days until the official June 1 start of the season in the Atlantic Basin.

The first tropical or subtropical storm of the season will be named Arlene. If all 21 of the names on the list are exhausted through Whitney, then a supplemental list of names will be used.

Last hurricane season produced 14 named storms and ended with Nicole in November.

Hurricane names in the Atlantic Basin repeat every six years unless one is so destructive and/or deadly that a World Meteorological Organization committee votes to retire that name from future lists. This helps prevent the use of names like Katrina, Laura, Sandy or Maria to describe a future weak, open-ocean tropical storm.

T​his list was previously used in 2017, which was a particularly destructive and deadly hurricane season. Four of the 17 names used in that season were retired.

-Harold will replace Harvey as the "H" storm since it was retired after producing widespread flooding and record-setting rainfall in the Houston metro area.

-Idalia will replace Irma as the dreaded "I" storm following its retirement after becoming one of the costliest hurricanes on record from the Caribbean into Florida. The storm, which was at one point a Category 5, also caused more than 100 deaths in those regions.

-​Margot will replace Maria as the "M" storm this year after Hurricane Maria wrecked Puerto Rico and became one of the deadliest storms in American history. The island territory continues to recover even in 2023.

-​Nigel will replace Nate as the "N" storm following its retirement due to its impacts in Costa Rica, where Nate caused significant damage to infrastructure and agriculture. Nate was one of the costliest disasters for Costa Rica.

I​t is notable that this particular list has had half of its names replaced over the years. The 2005 iteration of the list had five names retired, including Katrina. None of the letters retired in 2005 were retired after the 2017 season.

Hurricane Maria, 2017

There are some other notable past storms with names that will reappear in 2023.

-​ Don, which is notable for a completely contrary reason compared to the rest of the list: its notable evaporation in 2011. As that storm approached the Texas coast, its thunderstorm activity and winds essentially ceased to exist within just a few hours. If only all storms did this.

-​ Emily, which is a name that survived the previous mass name retirement in 2005, was a Category 5 hurricane that ripped through the Caribbean, making multiple landfalls in Mexico. Emily caused more than a dozen fatalities in the Caribbean.

-​Lee, a tropical storm that made landfall in Louisiana, but went on to produce catastrophic flooding in the eastern U.S. and in southern Canada in 2011.

-​ Vince, which was an extraordinarily rare hurricane to develop in the northeastern Atlantic, and then went on to make landfall in Spain as a tropical depression in 2005.

According to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, the June-through-November hurricane season was parsed out to capture 97% of all Atlantic named storm activity.

Named storms, hurricanes, and major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricanes by month from 1851 through 2013.

It's never too early to prepare for the next potential tropical storm or hurricane strike if you live near coastal areas of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Ready.gov has tips to help make your plans.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.