Is your name on this year's hurricane list?

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1, and experts predict an above-normal season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a range of 17 to 25 total named storms for the season, which spans June 1 through Nov. 30. A storm is named when it reaches 39 miles per hour or higher. Is your name on this year's hurricane name list? The list starts with Alberto and ends with William — 21 names in total. How do these names get chosen? And why do we name storms in the first place? Simply put, a name is easier to communicate than latitude and longitude.And, experts say, they are easier to remember if more than one storm is being tracked at a time. According to the National Hurricane Center, for several hundred years, storms were given the name of saint's day when the storm occurred. For example, Hurricane Santa Ana struck Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825.Then during WWII, there was a widespread practice among Army and Navy meteorologists of naming storms after women. The United States adopted this practice in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico in 1953, starting with Alice. By 1979, the National Hurricane Center began adding male names to the list, starting with Bob. Coincidently, the name Bob came around again in 1991, and Hurricane Bob was the last hurricane to make landfall in southern New England.Watch below to learn more about Hurricane Bob's impact on New England: Today, Atlantic tropical storm names are maintained by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. There are six lists of names in rotation and they get recycled every six years. That means the 2023 list will reappear in 2029. The committee selects names familiar to people in the areas of the world where the storms form. When picking a new name, they consider shorter names that are easy to pronounce.In most regions, they're named alphabetically, alternating between male and female names.If a named storm becomes particularly destructive or deadly, that international committee will discuss whether to retire the name. That's happened with storm names like Katrina, Sandy and most recently, Fiona and Ian.Watch below to see Harvey's summer weather outlook for Massachusetts: According to NOAA, this year's hurricane season is expected to have above-normal activity, with an estimated four to seven major hurricanes. That would mean a storm rated at a 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher. NOAA attributes this expectation to several factors, including near-record ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, La Niña conditions in the Pacific, reduced Atlantic trade winds and less wind shear. All of these factors, say NOAA forecasters, make it more likely for a tropical storm to form. Below is a list of the 2024 Atlantic Storm names:AlbertoBerylChrisDebbyErnestoFrancineGordonHeleneIsaacJoyceKirkLeslieMiltonNadineOscarPattyRafaelSaraTonyValerieWilliam