Which Hurricane Names Have Been Retired?

hurricane-andrew-wreckage-0 — An aerial view of Dade County, Florida, showing damage from one of the most destructive hurricanes in the history of the United States.

(Image credit: FEMA)

Hurricane names are assigned from a series of six discrete lists, which rotate year after year. As such, it's possible to repeat names every seven years.

In most cases, this isn't a problem, but if a particular named hurricane causes a lot of damage and deaths, for sensitivity reasons the World Meteorological Organization may decide to retire the name. Rather than repeat it, and replace it with a new name that starts with the same letter. For instance, hurricane Andrew was retired in the spring of 1993 and replaced on the list with "Alex" in 1998. [How Are Hurricanes Named? ]

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