Irma. Harvey. Katrina. Bob.
Have you ever wondered how they come up with names for hurricanes?
We’ve been naming hurricanes since the 1950s. The naming comes from the World Meteorological Organization, and there are different names for different parts of the world. There’s a list for Atlantic storms and for Pacific storms.
They’re listed alphabetically from A-to-Z, and they alternate boy-girl-boy-girl. The names are on a six-year cycle, so the hurricane names we see this season are going to be repeated in 2023.
However, when a storm is so devastating or costly, the name is retired and the organization comes up with replacement names. That’s why we will never see another hurricane named Andrew, Sandy, or Katrina. Andrew was replaced in 1998 with Alex. Katrina was replaced in 2011 with Katia. There will be a new name for Sandy in 2018.
After this year, we will likely never see the hurricane names Harvey or Irma again because of the obvious sensitivity reasons. The name Jose, a current hurricane in the Atlantic, will probably be seen again in 2023 because it never really caused a lot of destruction.
Since the naming began, 82 names have been retired.
Here is the list of storm names that have been retired. Is your name on it?
Sandy
Irene
Tomas
Igor
Paloma
Ike
Gustav
Noel
Felix
Dean
Wilma
Stan
Rita
Katrina
Dennis
Jeanne
Ivan
Frances
Charley
Juan
Isabel
Fabian
Lili
Isidore
Michelle
Iris
Allison
Keith
Lenny
Floyd
Mitch
Georges
Hortense
Fran
Cesar
Roxanne
Opal
Marilyn
Luis
Andrew
Bob
Klaus
Diana
Hugo
Joan
Gilbert
Gloria
Elena
Alicia
Allen
Frederic
David
Anita
Eloise
Fifi
Carmen
Agnes
Celia
Camille
Beulah
Inez
Betsy
Dora
Cleo
Hilda
Flora
Hattie
Carla
Donna
Audrey
Janet
Ione
Diane
Connie
Hazel
Edna
Carol
KING 5's Travis Pittman contributed to this report.
