Hurricanes That Were So Powerful They Retired Their Names

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24/7 Wall St. Insights

• There is a strict naming convention for hurricanes, including a list of name that repeats every 6 years
• When a hurricane is too powerful its name is retired
• Also see: 2 Dividend Legends To Hold Forever

After an early and devastating start to the hurricane season with Hurricane Beryl, the National Hurricane Center said it is tracking a new disturbance in the Atlantic that could gain strength. The “area of disturbed weather” near the Leeward Islands and Greater Antilles could form into a tropical depression later this week, the NHC noted . And if this disturbance indeed were to strengthen into a tropical storm, it would be named Debby. How do we know?

Well, the NHC explains that it does not control the naming of tropical storms but rather the World Meteorological Organization has a strict procedure to determine a list of tropical cyclone names. The names are selected because they are short, easy to pronounce, unique to the region, and have appropriate significance.

Why do we even need names? Well, one of the reasons hurricanes are named is that distinctive names make communication quicker, easier, and less subject to error than more cumbersome identification methods such as latitude and longitude.

In previous centuries, hurricanes were usually named after the fact and often after saints. In the middle of the 20th century, they were named solely after women, a practice that changed after 1978. Today, for Atlantic hurricanes, there is a yearly list of names that is repeated every six years, which is how it is known what the next storm would be named. But there are exceptions.

One exception is when there are more than 21 storms in a year and the list of names is exhausted, which is what happened in 2005 and 2020, when names from the Greek Alphabet were used (this practice changed after 2020). Of the 30 named storms in the record-breaking hurricane season of 2020, nine were named using the Greek alphabet, including the devastating hurricanes Eta and Iota -- names that were retired later. Which brings us to the next exception.

If a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate, then its name is retired. This is decided during an annual meeting.

For example, in 2005 - a record-breaking year at the time -- had several devastating hurricanes including Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, that were all retired. In all, five names from that year were retired, the most of any year. In general, the aughts are the decade with the most retired hurricane names, at 24. The 2010s are next with 16 retired names. So far in the 2020s, not including 2023 and 2024, six names have been retired, including Eta and Iota.

Though Beryl made history in that it was an early Category 5 hurricane, it is too soon to tell whether its name would be retired.

Below is a list of retired names for the Atlantic hurricanes listed chronologically. 24/7 Wall St. used data on hurricane names from the NOAA’s National Hurricane Center . Data on maximum sustained wind speed is the NOAA’s historical hurricane tracks shapefile. Data on baby names used to calculate changes in name popularity following a major storm came from the U.S. Social Security Administration . Destructive storms prior to the establishment of the naming convention in 1950 are not included.

Why are we covering this

It’s been three weeks since Beryl, but that could change soon. The NHC is tracking one disturbance, and the dry weather from the Sahara is expected to dissipate soon -- the dry conditions kept the season quiet so far. We still have to see what the hurricane season has in store but hopefully not too many names would have to be retired.

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