Yes, Louisiana, the next name on the hurricane list is Chris

While the state of Louisiana is still cleaning up the aftermath of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Beryl, some are already looking ahead to the next storm, which is already on the verge of becoming a meme.

The National Hurricane Center has been developing names for Atlantic storms since 1953. Each year, a new list of names is released for future years, and these are planned well in advance. Currently, names are set through 2029. That means we already know the first named storm of the 2027 season will be Ana. We know the third storm in 2029 will be Cindy. That also means we know what storm will be named next this year… and it will grab Louisiana’s attention very quickly.

The next named storm in the Atlantic will be named Chris by the National Hurricane Center, meaning that if it eventually reaches hurricane strength, it will be called Hurricane Chris.

That means Louisiana may be hit by a hurricane that shares the same name as one of the state’s most popular rap artists. Yes, we’re talking about Hurricane Chris from Shreveport.

Hurricane Chris (the rapper, not the potential storm) grew up in Shreveport and attended Huntington High School. His debut single, “A Bay Bay,” from his album “51/50 Ratchet,” went platinum in 2007. The music video for the song was shot in Shreveport and debuted at #1 on BET’s “106 & Park.” The music video ended the year at #3 on BET’s “Top 100 Videos” countdown.

In 2020, Hurricane Chris (real name: Christopher Dooley) was charged with murder in Caddo Parish. After a lengthy legal battle, Dooley was finally acquitted of the charges in 2023.

TO UPDATE: Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s pull the rug out from under everyone’s feet. After putting this together, it seems like a lot of people on the internet have been paying attention to the possibility of making Hurricane Chris memes. This caught the attention of the Weather Channel, who informed us that “Hurricane” Chris has already happened.

The Weather Channel pointed out that the storm named “Chris” developed when everyone was paying attention to Hurricane Beryl. They wrote:

“Because Beryl attracted so much attention, Chris was apparently overlooked by many people: We saw an unusual amount of search activity this week around the term ‘Hurricane Chris,’ a storm that never was and will not come – at least not this year.”

So yes, Hurricane Chris is already over.