Overview
- The U.S. National Hurricane Center is tracking a disturbance south of the Cape Verde islands that forecasters said Wednesday could become a tropical depression next week and might be named Dolly if it reaches tropical‑storm strength.
- A system receives a name when sustained winds reach at least 63 km/h (39 mph), so the label Dolly would apply only if the disturbance intensifies to that threshold.
- The name Dolly is the fourth entry on the preplanned WMO Atlantic list, which is alphabetical, alternates male and female names, and is reused every six years except for names retired after deadly or costly storms.
- The WMO recently retired the name Melissa after the destructive 2025 Category 5 hurricane, and NOAA continues to project a below‑average 2026 Atlantic season because of El Niño with an expected 8–14 named storms.
- Agencies and outlets are stressing that the timing is a coincidence to avoid public confusion and that officials will monitor the system over the coming days to see whether it meets the criteria to be named.