Weather Flash: Why do we retire hurricane names?

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Why do we retire hurricane names?

Every year, hurricane season starts on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30. During that time, lots of hurricanes will be brewing across the Atlantic and Pacific, some stronger and deadlier than others.

When we see those catastrophic storms, the names of those storms are usually retired. But what is the main reason why we retire hurricane names?

First, let’s dive into the reason why we name storms . The main reason why we started to name storms is to limit the confusion when forecasting and explaining what a storm will do next.

For example, suppose you have a storm in the Gulf of Mexico that is weakening and moving slowly, but you have another storm in the Atlantic that is moving quickly and intensifying rapidly. In that case, it will be hard to explain both of them without much confusion.

Now, believe it or not, the National Hurricane Center does not come up with the names of the storms. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is in charge of the names . For the Atlantic Hurricanes, a list of names is released every six years.

Regarding retiring named storms, names are retired if the storm is too deadly or too costly in damage. Mainly if the storm’s name will be insensitive to use it again. When a storm’s name is retired, they will take it off the hurricane name list during the WMO meeting and replace the name with a different one. The cycle continues from here.

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