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Retired Hurricane Names: The 96 Most Notorious Atlantic Storms Since 1954

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Hurricane Ian slammed ashore in southwest Florida at Category 4 intensity on Sept. 28, 2022. Its peak surge of over 15 feet and wind gusts to 140 mph leveled much of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Ian produced record inland flooding in the Florida Peninsula, including near Orlando, that would last for weeks. Ian was the costliest hurricane on record to hit Florida. Ian later made a second landfall in South Carolina, spreading storm surge and high winds from northeast Florida to the Carolinas. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

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Hurricane Ian slammed ashore in southwest Florida at Category 4 intensity on Sept. 28, 2022. Its peak surge of over 15 feet and wind gusts to 140 mph leveled much of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Ian produced record inland flooding in the Florida Peninsula, including near Orlando, that would last for weeks. Ian was the costliest hurricane on record to hit Florida. Ian later made a second landfall in South Carolina, spreading storm surge and high winds from northeast Florida to the Carolinas. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

At a Glance

Tropical cyclones that are so destructive and/or deadly can be retired from future name lists.
Through 2022, 96 Atlantic hurricane or tropical storm names had been retired.

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Some Atlantic Basin hurricanes and tropical storms have had their names retired.

Just as no New York Yankee will ever again wear No. 3 (Babe Ruth), nor will a Green Bay Packer ever claim No. 15 (Bart Starr), no future Atlantic hurricane will ever be named Harvey, Irma, Katrina, Maria or Sandy.

Unlike an athlete's number, however, there is no celebration when an Atlantic name is retired from future use.

Contrary to popular opinion, a committee of the World Meteorological Organization – not the U.S. National Hurricane Center – is responsible for the tropical cyclone name lists.

Atlantic hurricane and tropical storm name lists repeat every six years, unless one is so destructive and/or deadly that the committee votes to retire that name from future lists. This avoids the use of, say, Katrina, Sandy or Maria to describe a future weak, open-ocean tropical storm.

Since the naming of Atlantic tropical cyclones ditched the phonetic alphabet in 1953, 96 Atlantic tropical cyclone names have been retired, including 2022's Ian and Fiona, 2021's Ida, 2020's Laura, 2019's Dorian, 2018's Florence and Michael, and 2017's Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate.

Only 19 seasons have not had a name retired, most recently in 2014. Another 27 seasons, through 2022, have had multiple names removed from future use, led by the record-smashing 2005 hurricane season's five retirees.

Names beginning with the letter "I" lead the retirees with 13, followed by 10 "F" storms, then nine "C" storms. Eleven of those "I" storms have earned retirement just since 2001, including a four-year streak from 2001 through 2004 (Iris, Isidore, Isabel and Ivan, respectively).

Wilma in 2005 has been the deepest-in-the-alphabet retiree until 2020, when Eta and Iota were ceremoniously retired by the WMO, along with any future use of the Greek alphabet for hurricane names once a season's list runs out.

Some names you'll instantly recognize. Others, not so much.

For example, Katrina, Rita and Wilma are the big three you undoubtedly remember from 2005. You may have forgotten about Dennis and Stan, however. Did you know Stan may have been more deadly than Katrina?

The retired Atlantic storms weren't all necessarily intense Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes. In fact, a good number of them were retired due to their deadly flooding in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America or the United States.

Some examples of this include 2017's Nate, 2013's Ingrid in Mexico, 1996's Hortense in Puerto Rico and 1972's Agnes in the eastern U.S.

Only two Atlantic retirees never attained hurricane status: 2015's Tropical Storm Erika and 2001's Tropical Storm Allison. Damage from Erika's epic flooding may have set Dominica's progress back 20 years, according to the country's prime minister in late-summer 2015.

Allison was a $14.2-billion storm and one of the worst floods of record in Houston until 2017's Harvey.

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