area. As the equality movement prevailed across the United States, the practice of using menâs and womenâs names was started in 1978 in the eastern Pacific and the following year in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Except in the northwestern and central Pacific, the first storm of the year gets a name beginning with Aâsuch as Tropical Storm Ana. If the storm intensifies into a hurricane, it becomes Hurricane Ana. The second storm gets a name beginning with B, and so on through the alphabet. The lists do not use all the letters of the alphabet since there are few names beginning with such letters as Q or U. Also, no Atlantic or Caribbean storms receive names beginning with Q, U, X, Y, or Z.
In the northwestern and central Pacific, the lists include names of animals and things as well as people. For instance, a typhoon was named after a cricket or a cicada in a certain countryâs language.
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Atlantic/Caribbean Names
2009
2010
2011
Ana
Alex
Arlene
Bill
Bonnie
Bret
Claudette
Colin
Cindy
Danny
Danielle
Don
Erika
Earl
Emily
Fred
Fiona
Franklin
Grace
Gaston
Gert
Henri
Hermine
Harvey
Ida
Igor
Irene
Joaquin
Julia
Jose
Kate
Karl
Katia
Larry
Lisa
Lee
Mindy
Matthew
Maria
Nicholas
Nicole
Nate
Odette
Otto
Ophelia
Peter
Paula
Philippe
Rose
Richard
Rina
Sam
Shary
Sean
Teresa
Tomas
Tammy
Victor
Virginie
Vince
Wanda
Walter
Whitney
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You Have Been Retired from the Game!
Hurricanes that have a severe impact on peopleâs lives and are devastating to property and the economy become part of weather history, and are remembered for generations. When a storm of this magnitude occurs, any country affected by the storm can request that the stormâs name be retired by the World Meteorological Organization. Here is a list of major Atlantic and Caribbean hurricanes whose names will no longer be used.
Hurricane Dennis
NASA
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Retired Names
NAME
YEAR
Agnes
1972
Alicia
1983
Allen
1980
Allison
2001
Andrew
1992
Anita
1977
Audrey
1957
Betsy
1965
Beulah
1967
Bob
1991
Camille
1969
Carla
1961
Carmen
1974
Carol
1954
Celia
1970
Cesar
1996
Charley
2004
Cleo
1964
Connie
1955
David
1979
Dean
2007
Dennis
2005
Diana
1990
Diane
1955
Donna
1960
Dora
1964
Edna
1968
Elena
1985
Eloise
1975
Fabian
2003
Felix
2007
Fifi
1974
Flora
1963
Floyd
1999
Fran
1996
Frances
2004
Frederic
1979
Georges
1998
Gilbert
1988
Gloria
1985
Gustav
2008
Hattie
1961
Hazel
1954
Hilda
1964
Hortense
1996
Hugo
1989
Ike
2008
Inez
1966
Ione
1955
Iris
2001
Isabel
2003
Isidore
2002
Ivan
2004
Janet
1955
Jeanne
2004
Joan
1988
Juan
2003
Katrina
2005
Keith
2000
Klaus
1990
Lenny
1999
Lili
2002
Luis
1995
Marilyn
1995
Michelle
2001
Mitch
1998
Noel
2007
Opal
1995
Paloma
2008
Rita
2005
Roxanne
1995
Stan
2005
Wilma
2005
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Hurricane Katrina
NASA
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
Iâm sure youâve heard of hurricanes being rated on some sort of scale. You hear people say, âThat storm is a 1,â or âThat one is a Category 2,â and so on. Those numbers are from the Saffir-Simpson Scale. This scale was formulated in 1969, after Hurricane Camille slaughtered the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The damage from that hurricane was quite shocking, at least in part because there was, at that time, no way to predict a stormâs potential impact. The population had no sense of what to expect from a hurricane of Camilleâs mammoth strength and size.
National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce
Dr. Robert Simpson, who at the time was director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, realized the need to help disaster agencies better understand how much damage a particular storm might cause. So he called on Herbert Saffir, a consulting engineer who, Simpson says, was âwell known as the father of the Miami building code.â Simpson handled the meteorology part, and Saffir the engineering part, of developing a new hurricane damage assessment tool.
The two came up with