You won’t be seeing any more hurricanes named Harvey, Irma, Maria or Nate, according to the organization responsible for naming storms.
Due to the extensive damage the four storms caused in the United States and the Caribbean last year, the World Meteorological Organization’s Region IV Hurricane Committee has officially retired the names.
Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive, the committee said in a press release announcing the decision. Otherwise, storm names are reused on a six-year cycle.
Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate will be replaced by Harold, Idalia, Margot, and Nigel on the 2023 list of storm names.
There have been 86 storm names retired from the Atlantic basin since 1953, the first year the World Meteorological Organization began naming storms. The highest number of names retired in one season is five; that occurred after the 2005 hurricane season.
Hurricane Harvey was a category 4 hurricane that made landfill along the middle Texas coast on August 25, 2017. The storm stalled there for four days, causing catastrophic flooding in parts of southeastern Texas. It is the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history, trailing only Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005. At least 68 people were killed in Texas due to the storm.
Hurricane Irma was a category 5 storm that made landfall at seven locations along the Carribbean and Florida. Irma caused 44 deaths, including seven in the U.S.
Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island of Dominica as a category 5 storm on Sept. 19, and later devastated Puerto Rico as a category 4 hurricane. It was the third-costliest storm in U.S. history, and caused 31 deaths in Dominica, two deaths in Guadeloupe, and at least 65 deaths in Puerto Rico.
Hurricane Nate crossed Nicaragua and Honduras as a tropical storm and made landfall on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. as a category 1 hurricane. It caused at least 45 deaths in Central America. At least nine other people are missing in the region.
