Harold is the 8th name on the 2029 list of Atlantic hurricane names, so it is next scheduled for 2029. It is used that year only if the season reaches the letter H. Since 1997, three storms have been named Harold; the strongest, in 2020, peaked as a Category 5 cyclone.
No. Harold is on the 2029 list of Atlantic names, and it is not among the 100 names NHC lists as retired from the Atlantic (Tropical Cyclone Naming History and Retired Names).
Harold is next scheduled for 2029, when the 2029 list is used. The six lists rotate, so each one returns every six years.
A name on the list is used only if the season gets that far. Harold is name 8 of 21, and 38 of the 46 Atlantic seasons from 1980 to 2025 got that far.
Harold formed in the Atlantic in August 2023 and peaked as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 995 mb. It made landfall near Kingsville, United States. The system was tracked for 2 days.
Tropical Storm Harold (2023): track and historyHarold formed in the Southern Hemisphere in April 2020 and peaked as a Category 5 cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 909 mb. It made landfall near Luganville, Vanuatu. The system was tracked for 10 days.
Cyclone Harold (2020): track and historyHarold formed in the Southern Hemisphere in February 1997 and peaked as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 975 mb. It did not make landfall. The system was tracked for 10 days.
Tropical Storm Harold (1997): track and history| Storm | Landfall near | Date (UTC) | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harold 2023 | Kingsville, United States | 2023-08-22 15:00 | 60 mph / 95 km/h |
| Harold 2020 | Luganville, Vanuatu | 2020-04-06 00:00 | 140 mph / 220 km/h |
Names go in alphabetical order, one per storm, as each storm reaches tropical-storm strength (39 mph, 34 knots), so a storm’s place in its season decides its name.
In 2023, Harold was the 8th name used in the Atlantic season.
Storms named Harold appear in more than one ocean in our archive:
Each ocean region keeps its own name lists, drawn up by its own WMO regional committee (Tropical cyclone naming), so the same name can be given to unrelated storms in different oceans.
The most recent was Tropical Storm Harold in 2023, in the Atlantic. It formed on August 21, peaked at 60 mph (95 km/h) and lasted 2 days. It made landfall near Kingsville, United States. It was the 8th name used in that Atlantic season. Before that, the name was used in 2020 and 1997.
Cyclone Harold in 2020 was the strongest, peaking as a Category 5 cyclone with winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 909 mb. It formed in the Southern Hemisphere in April and made landfall near Luganville, Vanuatu. The weakest of the three, in 2023, peaked at 60 mph (95 km/h).