Hurricane Names 2012

Tropical storms and hurricanes have been given names since 1953. Names alternate between male and female and always run in alphabetical order. Names of hurricanes that do a great amount of damage are retired and never used again.

The names for 2012 are:

Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William

In the event that more than 21 named hurricanes occur in the Atlantic in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc.