In a very weird coincidence, a Tropical Storm named “Dolly” is currently forming in the Atlantic Ocean… just days after the beloved Dolly Parton passed away at the age of 80.
It’s been a sad and somber week ever since the world found out that country music’s brightest light had been extinguished. After struggling with health issues over the past couple of years, it was announced that Parton had passed away after a brief battle with cancer. The sad and shocking news has been met with countless tributes from some of the biggest celebrities and artists in the world.
One could even say that Mother Nature has a tribute brewing over the Atlantic Ocean.
There’s a tropical storm that has formed in the Atlantic basin, and it just so happens to share the same name as the country legend the world just lost. It’s expected to hit parts of the Caribbean and Puerto Rico early next week:
“Tropical Storm Dolly has formed in the Atlantic basin. Dolly is expected to fizzle into a tropical wave before approaching the Leeward Islands this weekend. This system could bring heavy rain to parts of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico through early next week.”
What are the odds of that, right?
Online, many have expressed their disdain with the potentially destructive and harmful storm being named after Dolly – an icon who went out of her way at all times to take care of everyone else. If you were to look up “Tropical Storm Dolly” on social media, you’d see a lot of comments like these:
Are they really going to use her name like that 😔
— Jimmy Newclaw (@JimmyNewclaw) August 27, 2026
Really? That’s what they named it?
Unreal— Michael (@mparrishpt) August 27, 2026
That name should have been immediately retired! The @NHC_Atlantic should not be using that name! Bad call NHC!
— MilosDad (@jeffdz1) August 27, 2026
There was a brief push to change the name of the storm away from Dolly, but it’s important to note that the World Meteorological Organization plans out these names very well in advance, and they are never chosen to allude to or honor specific people. Rather, they pick short, recognizable, easy-to-pronounce names, and then go through the list of names they have for each season in Alphabetical order (Arthur, Bertha, and Cristobal have already been used this year).
That being said, the pushback became so rampant that the National Hurricane Center put out a statement addressing the name of the developing tropical storm:
“The timing of the use of the name Dolly for this storm is purely coincidental. Tropical storm and hurricane names for the North Atlantic Basic originate from six pre-determined rotating lists established by the World Meteorological Organization Region IV Hurricane Committee. The name Dolly replaced Diana after the 1990 hurricane season and was first used in 1996.”
Names are sometimes retired for “reasons of sensitivity.” For example, Hurricane Diana, which hit Mexico in 1990 and was very destructive, is no longer used. There was actually a Hurricane Dolly that hit the Yucatan Peninsula and South Texas hard in 2008, and the name was almost retired then.
Fortunately for this edition of “Dolly,” it’s expected to fizzle out and not be all that strong when it makes landfall. MyRadar Weather is even saying it could bring rain to a much needed area:
“Tropical Storm Dolly could actually be a very good thing for Puerto Rico. It’s not expected to bring any surge/wind impacts. Instead, Dolly could bring some helpful rains. 66% of Puerto Rico is under severe/extreme drought. Dolly could help to fix that.”
See? Dolly being helpful, as always.
