Greek alphabet in use for storms this 2020
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has been so extremely active that storms are now being named by the Greek alphabet.
For only the second time in history, the National Hurricane Center used the Greek alphabet for storm names as the season’s 23rd storm threatens the Gulf Coast.
On Friday, Tropical Storm Wilfred, Subtropical Storm Alpha and Tropical Storm Beta formed within hours of each other.
After Wilfred officially formed, the hurricane center tweeted, “get out the Greek alphabet” for the rest of 2020.
Tropical Storm #Wilfred Advisory 1: Wilfred Forms in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic. Get Out the Greek Alphabet For the Rest of 2020. https://t.co/VqHn0u1vgc
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 18, 2020
All three storms that formed Friday set records for the earliest 21st, 22nd and 23rd-named Atlantic storms, beating 2005 by several weeks.
The World Meteorological Organization names tropical cyclones and uses 21 of the 26 letters in the alphabet, in alphabetical order. The letters that are excluded are Q, U, X, Y and Z.
In 2005 there were 27 named storms, and the National Hurricane Center had to use six Greek letters. Zeta was the last-named storm of the active 2005 season, forming on Dec. 30. It was preceded by Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon.
Hurricane Teddy moves to Bermuda
Meanwhile, Hurricane Teddy is located 515 km SSE of Bermuda and is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19 km/h).
In the latest forecast track, Teddy will approach Bermuda tonight, and the center should pass east of the island Monday morning.
Teddy has hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 80 miles (130 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 205 miles (335 km).
Bermuda Weather Service said that a tropical storm warning remains in effect.
The Atlantic hurricane season is still in its peak for a few more weeks and forecasters are currently watching about 2 disturbances for signs of development.