We knew the 2017 hurricane season was bad. So bad, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Thursday that it will retire the names Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate from its rotating list of hurricane names. This happens frequently when tropical systems are particularly deadly or destructive.
WMO Hurricane Committee has retired Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate from the list of rotating names because of the death and destruction they caused during the 2017 Atlantic season pic.twitter.com/MIbLJgSZuV
— WMO | OMM (@WMO) April 12, 2018
In a press release they stated, “Due to the extensive damage caused in the United States and Caribbean last year, the World Meteorological Organization’s Region IV Hurricane Committee has officially retired these names. Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive – otherwise names are reused on a six-year cycle.”
Adding these four now takes the number of retired names up to 86. Storms began receiving names from the WMO in 1954. 2017 comes in a close second to the 2005 hurricane season, which had the most retired names for one season (five).
Harold, Idalia, Margot, and Nigel will take the place of the retired four. The next time this name list will be used will be in 2023.
