Hurricane Names

[82Rigger]

The National Hurricane Center in Miami maintains 6 lists of names for Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes.

The lists are rotated, so the same list comes up every six years. This year's list will be used again in 2010.

Sometimes hurricane names are retired, never to be used again.

When an outstanding athlete leaves the sports world, his jersey or number is often retired. Likewise, hurricanes can make
a similar farewell. Hurricane names can and do get retired, not to be reused for at least ten years, perhaps longer.

Hurricanes that cause severe damage or kill and injure many people are remembered for generations and some go into hurricane history. The country most affected can request that the storm's name be removed from use to avoid confusion caused by a future storm having the same name.

When a storm name is retired from the Atlantic's list of names, member countries of the World Meteorological Organization from that region select a new name. For Atlantic storms the name can be either French, Spanish or English, reflecting the languages of potential victims.

A good example is Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Hugo roared across the northeast Caribbean devastating many of the small islands east of Puerto Rico. It then skimmed Puerto Rico before slamming into South Carolina. Hurricane Hugo caused more than $8 billion damage and killed 82 people. Most of the deaths occurred on the tiny Caribbean islands. When the request was made to retire the name "Hugo" from the list of names, the "H" storm was replaced by the name "Humberto", a Spanish name. Humberto was used for the first time in 1995 and then again in 2001.

Below is a list of deadly, costly and destructive storms whose names have been retired, guaranteeing them a place in hurricane history. This is not a complete list of deadly or destructive hurricanes since many such storms hit before 1950 when naming began.

Retired Atlantic hurricane names:

Red = hurricanes that clobbered ol' 82Rigger!

Agnes 1972 Florida, Northeast USA (huge storm - 1,000 miles in diameter)
Alicia 1983 Texas Category 3
Allison 2001 Texas Details
Allen 1980 Antilles, Mexico, south Texas
Andrew 1992 Bahamas, south Florida, Louisiana Category 5
Anita 1977 Mexico
Audrey 1957 Louisiana, north Texas
Betsy 1965 Bahamas, southeast Florida, southeast Louisiana
Beulah 1967 Antilles, Mexico, South Texas
Bob 1991 North Carolina, Northeast USA
Camille 1969 Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama Category 5
Carla 1961 Texas
Carmen 1974 Mexico, central Louisiana
Carol 1954 Northeast USA
Celia 1970 South Texas
Cesar 1996 Central America
Cleo 1964 Lesser Antilles, Haiti, Cuba, southeast Florida
Connie 1955 North Carolina
David 1979 Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola, Florida, Eastern USA
Diana 1990 Mexico
Diane 1955 Mid-Atlantic & Northeast USA
Donna 1960 Bahamas, Florida, Eastern USA
Dora 1964 Northeast Florida
Elena 1985 Mississippi, Alabama, western Florida
Eloise 1975 Antilles, northwest Florida, Alabama Category 3
Fabian 2003 Bermuda
Flora 1963 Haiti, Cuba
Floyd 1999 Bahamas, North Carolina, & Northeast USA
Fran 1996 North Carolina, mid-Atlantic USA
Frederic 1979 Alabama, Mississippi
Georges 1998 Greater Antilles, Florida Keys, Mississippi, Alabama
Gilbert 1988 Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Gloria 1985 North Carolina, Northeast USA
Hattie 1961 Belize, Guatemala
Hazel 1954 Antilles, North Carolina, South Carolina
Hilda 1964 Louisiana
Hortense 1996 Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic
Hugo 1989 Antilles, South Carolina
Ione 1955 North Carolina
Inez 1966 Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola, Cuba, Florida Keys, Mexico
Iris 2001 Jamaica, Belize Details
Isabel 2003 North Carolina, Virgina, Maryland, District of Columbia.
Isadore 2002 Mexico, Louisiana
Janet 1955 Lesser Antilles, Belize, Mexico
Joan 1988 Curacao, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua [Crossed into the Pacific Ocean, becoming Miriam]
Juan 2003 Eastern Canada
Keith 2000 Mexico
Klaus 1990 Martinique
Lenny 1999 Antilles
Luis 1995 Barbuda, St. Martin
Marilyn 1995 U.S. Virgin Islands
Michelle 2001 Honduras, Cuba, Florida Keys
Mitch 1998 Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Mexico, Florida
Opal 1995 Northwest Florida, Alabama Category 3
Roxanne 1995 Yucatan Peninsula

Due to its intensity, I suspect that IVAN will be retired from the names list.