Two New Tropical Names for 2024
The World Meteorological Organization retired the name Dora after the historic, deadly event in 2023. But it wasn’t the only hurricane name to be retired following this historic 2023 Eastern Pacific hurricane season. Otis, the strongest hurricane on record in the eastern Pacific Basin hit the resort town of Acapulco, Mexico in October. For the first time since 2014, the Atlantic basin didn't have any hurricane names retired. Because the list of names is recycled every 6 years we are using the same names as the 2018 season in 2024, but the list of 2024 names brings two new arrivals since 2018. Historical storms Florence and Michael are now "Francine" and "Milton". For more on why names are retired, here is meteorologist Dave Holder.
Cooler ocean waters and its small size may help protect Hawaii from landfalling tropical systems. But that doesn’t mean the islands have been immune to impacts. Most recently, Category 4 Hurricane Dora over 600 miles away to the south coupled with a strong ridge of high pressure created a tight pressure gradient streamlining strong, dry, downsloping winds into the city of Lahaina, already suffering from drought. The strong winds helped to the deadliest wildfire the U.S. had seen in over a century. For more on tropical impacts to Hawaii in the last 30 years, here’s meteorologist Taban Sharifi:
