Storm name chosen 30 years ago is an 'astounding coincidence' after Dolly Parton's death, expert says

As the world mourns the loss of a legend, a startling coincidence after naming storms decades ago could see one pay homage to Dolly Parton very soon.

This comes as the National Hurricane Center continues to pay close attention to the movements of a tropical wave that could be named today (August 27).

At the moment, it’s out in the Atlantic, and has a 70 per cent chance of turning into a tropical storm, per the NHC.

As always, when this happens, the storm will be handed a name that is pre-determined based on its severity, amongst other things.

But 30 years ago, this one was destined to be named none other than ‘Dolly’.

Names for storms in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific use a series of six rotating alphabetical lists that are held by a meteorological organization committee.

Dolly Parton shares a connection with storms (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Because there are six lists, every seven years, they repeat.

However, if a storm was notably severe or devastating, the committee may retire the name, like Katrina for instance, which was used to name the 2005 hurricane that killed an approximate 1,833 people.

If you’re curious about the names you’ll never see again, the NHC lists all retired storm names on its website for all to see.

So, when it comes to the Atlantic storms, the rotating list of names is maintained by the North Atlantic basin committee, the World Meteorological Organization's regional hurricane committee, and when a name is retired, they usually come up with a new one that’s shorter and easily pronounced to replace it.

When it came to Dolly, that was first introduced on the list in 1996 to replace the name Diana, which had been a Category 2 hurricane that killed 139 people in Mexico in 1990.

According to Roger Edwards, a long-time Dolly Parton fan and meteorologist, per USA Today, the fact the storm could share her name days after her passing is an 'astounding coincidence'.

A storm is set to be named Dolly very soon (Getty Stock Images)

Since then, it has been used three times, the last of which was for a tropical storm in 2020, and the worst of which was a Category 2 hurricane in 2008.

The Hurricane Dolly struck the south-eastern top of Texas, but thankfully had calmed to a Category 1 by that point.

Now, the country legend has a sweet history with storms, as in 2024, she personally donated $1 million to the relief efforts after North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee were flooded as hurricane Helene swept through, per the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Not only that, but her business is said to have matched the donation.

As she announced it, she sand a rendition of her hit song Jolene, but replaced the name with Helene.

She sang: "Helene, Helene, Helene, you came in here and broke us all apart. Helene, Helene, Helene, we're all here to mend these broken hearts."

CBS 2 Iowa reported that the money was donated to Mountain Ways, with executive director Lori Moore telling News 13 that Dolly later gave another $1 million to the cause.

Apparently, this was for groceries, mortgages, insurance or rebuilding purposes for the families impacted.

“We were told it was going to buy the doors to their new home or the windows to their new home,” Moore said. “It truly was a bit of a light for them in the moment when a lot of people reached desperation.”

“These were truly her people and her mountains,” Moore added. “When she said she wanted to give back to them, she absolutely did what she said she was going to do.”