MACON, Ga. — We have passed the official peak of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, but there are still a little less than two months left until the season officially ends on November 30th.
Last week, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 storm with peak sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. Helene continued to wreck havoc across the southeastern United States as it moved inland, claiming the most lives of a hurricane to hit the mainland of the United States since Hurricane Katrina resulted in over 1,000 lives lost back in 2005.
Helene is a name that many will remember for the rest of their lives, however, it is very unlikely that another storm will ever be named "Helene" ever again. This is why.
What does it take for a hurricane name to be retired?
While we typically refer to the National Hurricane Center when talking about tropical systems, it is actually the World Meteorological Organization that oversees the list of names given to these systems each year.
Each year, a set list of names is utilized in alphabetical order and this list is recycled every six years.
However, some names never get used again after a hurricane leaves widespread destruction. According to the National Hurricane Center. a hurricane name gets retired when "a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity."
The retirement of a specific storm name is determined at an annual meeting of the committee of the World Meteorological Organization that establishes these lists of storm names.
Will Helene get retired?
Helene has resulted in over 180 casualties and counting, along with crippling the infrastructures of many communities in southern Appalachia. So while it has not been made official as of now, given the very high death toll and cost of damage that resulted from impacts of Hurricane Helene, it is more than likely going to be retired.
Recent storm names that have been retired
Hurricane Ian (September 2022) - Ian made landfall near Fort Myers, Florida as a strong Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 miles per hour. The storm resulted in 161 casualties and $113 billion in damage.
Hurricane Ida (August 2021) - Ida wrecked the gulf coast of Louisiana making landfall with 150 mile per hour winds as a Category 4 storm. This hurricane caused 112 deaths across the Caribbean and the United States with over $75 billion in damage.
Hurricane Michael (October 2018) - Michael is one of the strongest hurricanes in recent memory which made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida as a monster Category 5 storm with winds just above Category 5 criteria of 157 miles per hour. Michael claimed 74 lives and caused over $25 billion in damage. Michael eventually moved into central Georgia as a tropical storm and left lots of damage and wrecked many agricultural businesses.
Hurricane Harvey (August 2017) - Harvey made landfall of the Texas Gulf coast as a major hurricane of Category 3 status. However, it is remembered for its stall over southeast Texas and torrential flooding in the Houston metropolitan area. Harvey is tied with Katrina for the costliest hurricane of all time with around $125 billion in damage and 107 casualties.
Hurricane Sandy or Superstorm Sandy (October 2012) - Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane ever by diameter that devastated the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Sandy is most notable for causing flooding in the streets, subways, and tunnels of New York City along with having impacts across 24 states in the eastern United States and producing snow as it merged with an arctic air mass.
Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) - Katrina is infamous for being tied for the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricane in the modern era. Katrina caused around $125 billion in damage just like Harvey and resulted in over 1,300 deaths. Helene is now the second deadliest mainland U.S. hurricane since Katrina.
