Each year a list is prepared with the names of the hurricanes that will occur throughout the season. These lists, which are repeated every 6 years, include a name for each letter of the alphabet and alternate male and female names . The use of this procedure is due to the precision and ease of using people’s names in written and spoken communication in place of other names that were used before.
And it is that for many centuries, the baptism of the hurricanes was determined by the saint of the day in which they manifested their power of destruction in a specific area. Thus, in 1825, the Santa Ana hurricane would be remembered for hitting Puerto Rico on July 26.
In the late 19th century, Australian meteorologist Clement L. Wragge was the first to refer to hurricanes using women’s proper names. For this he used biblical names. As early as 1953, in the United States it was decided to identify storms with female names. With this, the tradition of naming them by means of the phonetic alphabet was abandoned. Later, in 1978, men’s names also began to be included in the Eastern North Pacific storms. The unification would come when a year later, the World Meteorological Organization and the Meteorological Service of the United States, decided to alternate names of men and women for the naming of storms. Each area of the planet that suffers from hurricanes, cyclones or tropical storms has its own list of names.
On some occasions, when a hurricane is especially destructive, its name is removed and replaced on the list by one that begins with the same letter. Any country that is seriously affected by a hurricane has the possibility to request the removal of its name. That way, that name cannot be used for at least the next 10 years to avoid confusion.
Hurricane names retired
The only change to the Atlantic hurricane name list is the occasional removal of a name. This is done when a hurricane causes so much death and destruction that reusing the same name would be insensitive to the people who suffered losses. When that happens, the World Meteorological Organization replaces the name. For example, “Katrina” has been removed from the list of names and will not be used again.
A list of hurricane names that have been retired since the current name list system was established in 1979 is displayed on this web page. In addition to retirements, there are some names that have simply been changed. For example, in the 2007 list, the names Dean, Felix, and Noel were replaced by Dorian, Fernand, and Nestor for the 2013 list.
In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate caused significant damage and deaths. Out of respect for the people who suffered losses, these names have been withdrawn and will no longer be used for tropical storms.
