A tropical storm is developing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean headed toward the Lesser Antilles archipelago. This weather system must be named “Dolly,” according to the naming conventions set by the authorities that oversee these sorts of things.
With the news breaking a few days after Dolly Parton’s death, the National Hurricane Center issued a statement telling mourning fans not to read too deeply into the name.
“The timing of the use of the name Dolly for this storm is purely coincidental,” it said in an update published Thursday. “Tropical storm and hurricane names for the North Atlantic Basin originate from six pre-determined rotating lists established by the World Meteorological Organization Region IV Hurricane Committee. The name Dolly replaced Diana after the 1990 hurricane season and was first used in 1996.”
Beyond the presumption of bad taste, the tropical storm looks like it won’t become a hurricane. Its winds are forecasted to stop at 45 miles per hour. The National Hurricane Center expects it to dissipate by Monday.
To quote Parton, “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
The Weather Channel notes that the name Dolly has been in rotation for storms since Parton was seven years old. The name Dolly first appeared on a naming list in 1953, about a decade and a half before Parton released an album. The authorities retire names only if they’re attached to storms so deadly they’d be in bad taste. The Weather Channel uses Andrew (1992) and Katrina (2005) as examples.
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