Hurricane Irene blasted the East Coast,  although rare it may not be the last one this year that could affect New York State.  Peak hurricane season happens in September and there are several tropical depressions that are forming now.  What name hurricane could we be talking about next?Hurricanes are named alphabetically from the list in chronological order, beginning with "A" and ending in "W" excluding "Q"" and "U".  The first tropical storm or hurricane of the year has a name that begins with "A" and the second is given the name that begins with "B."

There are six lists are rotate, the lists only chance when a named storm does so much damage, the name is retired and replaced with another name.  Ironically the names in 2011 are the same as in 2005 - the year of Katrina.

After the devastating 2005 hurricane season, four hurricane names were retired to honor that lives that were lost and to not create confusion. Therefore Dennis was replaced by Don, Katrina was replaced by Katia, Rita was replaced by Rina, Stan was replaced Sean, and Wilma was replaced by Whitney.

2011 Hurricane Names

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose - formed off Bermuda and is heading away from the United States
Katia - forming now off the coast of Africa.
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

Katia is next, forming off Africa and is forecast to be a Category 3 Hurricane by the end of the week.   It is following the same path as Irene, lets hope the pattern changes.

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