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Updated CSU hurricane forecast means we could run out of names

Experts at Colorado State University are now forecasting 24 total named storms.

Forecast as of August 5, 2020 from Colorado State University

ROANOKE, Va. – Just a day after Isaías wreaked havoc up the East Coast, experts at Colorado State University released an update to their forecast for the 2020 Atlantic tropical season. The forecast now calls for an “extremely active” Atlantic season.

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It’s safe to say it’s been extremely active already, as we’ve now seen nine named storms. On average, we don’t reach that mark until early October. We’ve yet to reach the historic peak of the season, which falls between August 20th and October 10th.

Frequency of tropical systems in the Atlantic

With CSU’s updated forecast, we would run out of names. The list ends at ‘W’ with ‘Wilfred.’

2020 Atlantic hurricane names

So, what do we do? The current practice is to start using Greek letters once we run out of names. If we get a 22nd storm, it would be named ‘Alpha.’ The next would be ‘Beta,’ and so on. NOAA will update its outlook Thursday morning at 11.

Expect an updated article from Your Local Weather Authority when that forecast is released.