MIAMI — The next tropical storm that develops in the Atlantic this hurricane season will be named Dolly, but the timing is pure coincidence and has no connection to Dolly Parton’s death Tuesday. Storm systems are named by procedures set by the World Meteorological Organization, and the lists of names are reused every six years. For the Atlantic region, the lists are alphabetical and alternate male and female names. This season started with Tropical Storm Arthur coming ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast in June, and Tropical Storm Bertha dumped rain in Louisiana and Texas in July. Tropical Storm Cristobal formed and quickly dissipated in the Atlantic earlier in August. The National Hurricane Center was monitoring a weather system off Africa that may strengthen into a named tropical storm. Conditions were somewhat favorable for the area of thunderstorms south of the Cabo Verde Islands to become a tropical depression sometime in the next week, forecasters at the Miami-based center said early Wednesday. If it further develops, with maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph (63 km/h), the system would be named Tropical Storm Dolly. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-average Atlantic hurricane season due to El Nino. It forecast eight to 14 named storms, with three to six of them reaching hurricane strength and one to three of those intensifying to major hurricanes. The NHC and other weather agencies name storms to easily communicate warnings about them to people and to avoid confusion. The WMO says names are chosen to be short, easy to pronounce and familiar to the regions of the world where the storm names are used. It meets regularly to evaluate potential names, and some names are retired for reasons of sensitivity, particularly for deadly or destructive storms. One name from the 2025 season was retired, Melissa, which was a Category 5 hurricane that brought devastation to the Caribbean. The Associated Press
