Hurricane Names

The Washington Post article Rita Is Gaining Force in the Gulf answers a question I had about Hurricane Names: what happens in a very active year when there are more hurricanes than allotted names.

But there is a finite number of preselected names — 21 — each summer, and after Rita, only four are left this year: Stan, Tammy, Vince and Wilma. If that list is exhausted, the meteorological group will have to revert to a backup plan: naming storms using the Greek alphabet, beginning with alpha, beta and gamma.