Hurricane Olaf, Hurricane Elsa? ‘Frozen’ characters may serve as names in storm season

Some of your favorite characters from Disney’s “Frozen” may serve as names during the 2021 hurricane and tropical season.

The National Hurricane Center has included Ana, Elsa and Olaf among the names for this year’s tropical storms. Ana and Elsa are the protagonists of the “Frozen” series, though the younger of the sisters goes by “Anna” in the movies. Olaf, of course, is the lovable snowman who longs for summer.

Ana and Elsa were chosen as names for tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean, while Olaf is among the names for storms in the eastern north Pacific Ocean.

Hurricane and tropical storm names are maintained and updated by a World Meteorological Organization committee. They’re rotated and re-cycled every six years.

Names are assigned in alphabetical order. This year’s storms will begin with Ana in the Atlantic and Andres in the eastern north Pacific.

“The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity,” the National Hurricane Center said.

Florence and Michael are the most recent names to be retired. Both hurricanes caused severe damage in 2018.

In 2015, Hurricane Olaf strengthened to a Category 4 but it did not reach land, according to The Weather Channel.

Tropical Storm Ana made landfall in Myrtle Beach in 2016, with some areas of North Carolina and South Carolina picking up more than 6 inches of rain, The Weather Channel reported.

Both Ana and Olaf have been on the six-year rotation list since 1979.

Elsa was added to the list after the name Erica was retired. Tropical Storm Erika resulted in 30 deaths in the Caribbean in 2015.

Hurricane season officially begins June 1, according to the National Hurricane Center.

2021 Atlantic names

Ana

Bill

Claudette

Danny

Elsa

Fred

Grace

Henri

Ida

Julian

Kate

Larry

Mindy

Nicholas

Odette

Peter

Rose

Sam

Teresa

Victor

Wanda

2021 Eastern North Pacific names

Andres

Blanca

Carlos

Dolores

Enrique

Felicia

Guillermo

Hilda

Ignacio

Jimena

Kevin

Linda

Marty

Nora

Olaf

Pamela

Rick

Sandra

Terry

Vivian

Waldo

Xina

York

Zelda

This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 9:24 AM.