Get ready for Hurricane Dolly. Or Tropical Storm Dolly. Or Cyclone Dolly.
Whatever the next named storm turns out to be, it'll be named Dolly.
The moniker was picked decades ago and just happens to coincide with the news of Dolly Parton's death Aug. 26.
Parton died after a short battle with cancer. She was 80. She had been hospitalized at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville Aug. 21. A video on her social media pages from her nephew Bryan Seaver announced her death four days later.
A figurative force of nature, Parton's many philanthropic endeavors included a $1 million donation to aid relief efforts after East Tennessee and Western North Carolina were devastated by Hurricane Helene. Parton's businesses pledged another $1 million.
Will an Atlantic storm be named Dolly this year?
The National
Hurricane Center is monitoring a tropical wave at the moment. Currently, it has about a 70% chance of becoming a tropical storm or depression, according to the center. If so, it'll become the fourth named storm of the year.
The center does not control the naming of tropical storms or when the names are used, its website states. "Instead a strict procedure has been established by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization."
Names come from a set of six rotating alphabetical lists. After each hurricane season, the committee decides if any storm names will be retired, and what will replace them.
When did the name Dolly first appear on the hurricane name list?
Dolly first appeared on the rotating list in 1996 when it replaced Diana, a Category 2 hurricane that struck Mexico killing 139 people in 1990.
In 2008, a hurricane peaking as a Category 2 hurricane was named Dolly, but by the time it hit the southeastern tip of Texas it was a Category 1 storm.
Dolly was last used for a tropical storm in 2020.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The next named Atlantic storm is Dolly and yes, it's a coincidence
