The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season got off to an early start with the formation of Tropical Storm Alberto off South Carolina May 20.
Alberto was the first named storm of the year.
It formed 11 days before the official start of hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The U.S. National Hurricane Centre has six sets of names it uses in rotation, alternating male and female names.
A storm takes on a name once it reaches tropical storm status, with sustained winds greater than 63 km/h (39 mph). A tropical storm is upgraded to a hurricane once sustained winds reach 119 km/h (74 mph) or higher.
Each cycle has 24 names in alphabetical order, with the letter Q and Z left off the list. In the rare event NOAA runs out of names before the end of season, like it did in 2005, storms take on letters of the Greek alphabet.
The complete list of names for the 2012 season is as follows:
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Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William
See all six sets of names for Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific tropical storms and hurricanes here
Hurricanes that cause significant damage or a high number of deaths will be retired from the roster and replaced when the cycle comes around again six years later.
Major storms names – such as Hurricanes Katrina, Igor and Juan – will never appear again because it would be insensitive to those that suffered losses in the disasters.
The last time this particular name cycle was used was in 2006. It was also the first year in the 21st century that no names were removed from the list.
By contrast, five names were retired in 2005 – one of the worst hurricane seasons on record. The names removed that year were: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma.
Last year only Hurricane Irene had enough historical significance to be stricken from the list and was replaced with the name Irma for 2017.
View the full list of retired storm names here
The National Hurricane Centre began naming storms in 1953¸but the take of naming storms are now managed by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization.
Only women’s names were used until 1978 (Pacific) and 1979 (Atlantic) when men’s names began to be included. It was also in 1979 when the six sets of names were established.
*With files from the National Hurricane Centre and Wikipedia
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