Retired Atlantic Hurricane Names

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Hurricane Isabel, 2003.

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Pixabay

Costly, Deadly, and Destructive Storms

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Did you know that hurricane names could be retired? See the list of hurricane names that have been retired since the 1950s—some of the deadliest or most destructive storms in history.

Why Are Hurricane Names Retired?

Atlantic tropical cyclone name lists repeat every six years unless a storm is so severe that the World Meteorological Organization’s Hurricane Committee votes to retire that name from future lists. Here is the list of names for the current hurricane season.

Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive. (When a name is retired, it’s replaced by a new name.)

Any country may request that the name of a hurricane be “retired,” which must then be considered and agreed upon by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Current List of Retired Atlantic Hurricane Names

As of this writing, 96 names have now been retired from the Atlantic basin list since 1953, when storms began to be named. Of course, there were a great number of storms further back in history which occured, but the hurricane naming system was not established until 1950.

YearsNames
1954Carol, Hazel
1955Connie, Diane, Ione, Janet
1956 
1957Audrey
1958 
1959 
1960Donna
1961Carla, Hattie
1962 
1963Flora
1964Cleo, Dora, Hilda
1965Betsy
1966Inez
1967Beulah
1968Edna
1969Camille
1970Celia
1971 
1972Agnes
1973 
1974Carmen, Fifi
1975Eloise
1976 
1977Anita
1978 
1979David, Frederic
1980Allen
1981 
1982 
1983Alicia
1984 
1985Elena, Gloria
1986 
1987 
1988Gilbert, Joan
1989Hugo
1990Diana, Klaus
1991Bob
1992Andrew
1993 
1994 
1995Luis, Marilyn, Opal, Roxanne
1996Cesar, Fran, Hortense
1997 
1998Georges, Mitch
1999Floyd, Lenny
2000Keith
2001Allison, Iris, Michelle
2002Isidore, Lili
2003Fabian, Isabel, Juan
2004Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne
2005Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, Wilma
2006 
2007Dean, Felix, Noel
2008Gustav, Ike, Paloma
2009 
2010Igor, Tomas
2011Irene
2012Sandy
2013Ingrid
2014 
2015Erika, Joaquin
2016Matthew, Otto
2017Harvey, Irma, Maria, Nate
2018Florence, Michael
2019Dorian
2020Laura, Eta, Iota
2021Ida
2022Fiona, Ian

Source: NOAA

Recently Retired Names

Usually, storm names from the most recent hurricane season are officially retired at the spring meeting of the World Meteorological Organization’s Hurricane Committee. As mentioned above, hurricane names are retired from the rotating lists because of the level of death and destruction that they cause.

2022: Ian

Ian was a large and powerful category 4 hurricane that struck western Cuba as a major hurricane and made landfall in southwestern Florida as a  category 4 hurricane.  Ian caused a devastating storm surge in southwestern Florida and is responsible for over 150 direct and indirect deaths and over US$112 billion in damage in the United States, making it the costliest hurricane in Florida’s history and the third costliest in the United States. Idrish will be used to replace Ian in the list of names.

2022: Fiona

Fiona is the costliest extreme weather event on record in Atlantic Canada. This storm was unusual in that it brought devastating freshwater flooding to Puerto Rico, where it made landfall as a category 1 hurricane. Then, it struck Canada as a strong post-tropical cyclone in September 2022, bringing significant damage and loss of life along its path. The storm produced over $3 billion (U.S. dollars) in damage across the Caribbean and Canada and was responsible for 29 direct and indirect fatalities. Farrah will be used to replace Fiona in the list of names.

2021: Ida 

Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on August 29, 2021, as a Category 4 with winds of 150 mph. (A storm becomes a Category 5 at 157 mph.) Then, this powerful storm churned inland, moving northeastward towards the mid-Atlantic. As the system acquired gale-force winds over the Atlantic east of the center, the storm crossed into the New England states. Ida was responsible for 55 deaths, either directly due to hurricane winds or indirectly due to flooding; the latter happened primarily in the Northeast. Coincidentally, August 29 was also the date that Hurricane Katrina landed in southeast Louisiana and Mississippi in 2006. Imani will replace Ida on the rotating list of storm names.

Did You Know?

  • Around 39% of hurricanes that hit the United States strike the state of Florida.
  • Two-thirds of the strongest hurricanes (Class 4 or 5) make landfall on either the Florida or Texas coast. 
  • As shown in the chart above, the 2005 hurricane season has the most retired names–five–for one season.

Learn More About Hurricanes

Find out the forecast for this year’s hurricane season

Read about the Worst Hurricanes in U.S. History (a three-part series).

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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