In a stunning move, the National Hurricane Center announced today that they will give Atlantic hurricanes both first names and last names beginning the hurricane season of 2024. At a press conference today, National Hurricane Center director of public affairs, April Furst, said:
“The decision to give hurricanes both first and last names comes in response to the critically low number of names beginning with the letter “I” in the rotating list of names. One reason Hurricane Isaias of 2020 did not get its name retired — despite causing almost $6 billion in damage — was that we didn’t want to come up with another obscure male ‘I’ name that not many people could pronounce. Hence, the name Isaac will now be recycled in perpetuity, but with a different last name each time it gets its name retired.”
Here, then, is the official 2024 list of Atlantic hurricane names announced today by the National Hurricane Center:
Alberto Saurus
Beryl O’Fun
Chris Cross
Debby Downer
Ernesto Cattywampus
Francine Leanmean
Gordon Flash
Helene Machine
Isaac Newton
Joyce Cyclogenesis
Kirk Toenterprise
Leslie Saffir-Simpson
Milton Bradley
Nadine Flumberghast
Oscar Meijer
Patty Wagon
Rafael Recurvature
Sara Peachy
Tony Stark
Valerie Fujiwhara
William Willy-willy
So, get ready, America, because Hurricane Isaac Newton may be coming your way this year, and it will no doubt follow one of the famous laws of his namesake:
“An object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.”
Bob Henson contributed to this post. Happy April Fools, everyone!
