Tropical Depression 28, soon to be Zeta, headed for the Gulf Coast

[Diggin It]

Eta, having made two passes at FL is now about to skim the coast of both Carolinas. Theta is way out in the eastern Atlantic. Meanwhile, Iota is about to form in the Caribbean with no track forecast yet.

 

[ovrszd]

What happened to Alphabetical naming of these storms??? Where the H do they get these names?

 

[oldballs]

What happened to Alphabetical naming of these storms??? Where the H do they get these names?

It's the Greek alphabet they are going thru.........as I understand it.

Cheers, Mike [

 

[Diggin It]

What happened to Alphabetical naming of these storms??? Where the H do they get these names?

As it is in so many other ways, '20 is a major anomaly. There have been 29, soon to be 30 storms. They have exhausted the normal alphabet and are now into the Greek alphabet for only the second time in the history of naming storms. The first was the hyperactive season of '05, but that one only went to Zeta. Eta, Theta and Iota have never been used before this year. Also keep in mind that we still have several weeks to go in this year. Zeta in '05 formed on December 30th, so the way it's going, we could conceivably see several more beyond Iota.


Note: They do not use Q, U, X, Y or Z because there are not enough names starting with those letters to fill out the six year cycle:

Tropical Cyclone Names



As to who assigns names using the normal alphabet, that would be the World Meteorological Society:

Tropical Cyclone Naming | World Meteorological Organization

The names you commonly see are only for the Atlantic. There are other cycles of names for other oceans.

 

[ovrszd]

It's the Greek alphabet they are going thru.........as I understand it.

Cheers, Mike [

Good stuff Mike!!!! Since I ain't anything near Greek I'd never get that!!!! Hope you are well my friend!!!!

 

[ovrszd]

And another thing.... I "know" iota as something very, very small. Isn't that an oxymoron to call a large storm Iota???

 

[Diggin It]

We now officially have TD 31, soon to be Iota.

Tropical Depression Thirty-One Public Advisory

 

[tallyho8]

Re: Tropical Depression 28, soon to be Zeta, headed for the Gulf Coast'

2020 is my new worst nightmare :confused2:

 

[Diggin It]

Take solace in the thought that you got hit in fairly minor ways. Bad, but not what it could have been. Iota is now a Category Five storm with winds of 160MPH and is about to hit almost the exact same spot that Category Four Eta hit just about two weeks ago. That's gonna put a serious hurtin' on Nicaragua and Honduras.