List of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season storm names starts with Alberto and Beryl

Alberto, Beryl and Chris lead off the list of storm names for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season , which officially gets underway June 1.

A tropical storm gets a name when its sustained winds reach 39 mph; it becomes a hurricane when its winds reach 74 mph.

A typical Atlantic hurricane season averages about 14 tropical storms, seven of which spin into hurricanes, based on weather records that date from 1991 to 2020.

Forecasters are predicting a whopper of a season, with as many as 33 named storms possible, hurricane experts from the University of Pennsylvania said in a forecast released earlier this month .

Here is the list of names for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season:

The names are given out in alphabetical order, and each new storm gets the next name on the list. There are no Q, U, X, Y or Z names because of the lack of usable names that begin with those letters.

Here's how to pronounce all of the 2024 hurricane names.

• Alberto
• Beryl
• Chris
• Debby
• Ernesto
• Francine
• Gordon
• Helene
• Isaac
• Joyce
• Kirk
• Leslie
• Milton
• Nadine
• Oscar
• Patty
• Rafael
• Sara
• Tony
• Valerie
• William

If all 21 names are used this year, there is a supplemental list of 21 names that will be used after William. Here is that list, from the World Meteorological Organization :

• Adria
• Braylen
• Caridad
• Deshawn
• Emery
• Foster
• Gemma
• Heath
• Isla
• Jacobus
• Kenzie
• Lucio
• Makayla
• Nolan
• Orlanda
• Pax
• Ronin
• Sophie
• Tayshaun
• Viviana
• Will

Why – and how – do hurricanes get names?

Before hurricane forecasters started naming storms, they had to refer to storms by saying something like "the storm 500 miles east-southeast of Miami." But six hours later, the storm's position would change.

Also, when more than one storm was going on at the same time, making it clear which storm was being described made the job even harder.

In 1953, the U.S. began using female names for hurricanes. By 1979, male and female names were being used. The names alternate between male and female.

Eastern Pacific hurricane names

There is a separate list for tropical storms and hurricanes that form in the eastern Pacific Ocean :

• Aletta
• Bud
• Carlotta
• Daniel
• Emilia
• Fabio
• Gilma
• Hector
• Ileana
• John
• Kristy
• Lane
• Miriam
• Norman
• Olivia
• Paul
• Rosa
• Sergio
• Tara
• Vicente
• Willa
• Xavier
• Yolanda
• Zeke

Eastern Pacific hurricanes seldom have any direct impact on the U.S., though Hilary did wreak havoc across portions of California and the Southwest last year. The eastern Pacific season begins on May 15, more than two weeks earlier than the Atlantic season.

There is a separate list of names for Central Pacific hurricanes , which can occasionally hit Hawaii. In addition, there are separate lists for typhoons in the western Pacific and tropical cyclones in Australia and the Indian Ocean.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: List of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season storm names starts with Alberto and Beryl