Which Atlantic hurricane names have been retired?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Since 1954, 99 names have been retired from the list used by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.
The names used each year are predetermined by a rotating set of six lists. That means most names used in the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, for example, will be used again in 2030.
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But when a storm is particularly powerful, destructive or deadly, the name is “retired” from the list, meaning it will never be used again.
In April, the WMO retired three names from the list used in 2024: Beryl, Helene and Milton. They will be replaced by Brianna, Holly and Miguel in 2030’s list.
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Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin. The storm caused widespread devastation in Grenada in July 2024, damaging or destroyed 98% of homes on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, according to the WMO.
Helene became the deadliest hurricane to affect the continental U.S. since Katrina in 2005, with more than 248 deaths, according to the WMO. The Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Florida in September 2024 and caused catastrophic flooding across the southeast. Helene was the seventh-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
Milton rapidly intensified to a Category 5 hurricane in October 2024, with the rate of intensification among the highest ever observed. The storm later made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm while producing a historic and deadly tornado outbreak.
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The graphic below shows the full list of names that have been retired from use in the Atlantic Basin. The names are colored by the strength of the storm. Click on a storm category in the legend to only see storms of that strength.
The WMO uses 21 letters for storm names. The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used. Of the 21 letters that are used, only V has not had at least one retired storm name.
Here’s the list of storm names that will be used over the next six hurricane seasons:
If a hurricane season is particularly active, there may be more storms than the 21 names on the list. In previous years, the Greek alphabet was used for those storms (e.g. Alpha, Beta, Gamma). Beginning in 2021, a list of supplemental names will be used instead. Those names are listed in the right-hand column above.
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