The names of four deadly hurricanes that slammed our beautiful state of Florida, along with other parts of the United States, Central America and the Caribbean last year are being retired.
Names are retired if and when storms are so severe that their future use would be insensitive. Since 1954, 86 storm names have been retired from the Atlantic basin list.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Thursday that hurricane names Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate will be replaced with Harold, Idalia, Margot and Nigel.
The new names will make their debut during the 2023 hurricane season.
NOAA also released the official name list of 2018 storms. Names are only given to tropical storms with sustained wind speeds of more than 39 mph. These names will stay with the storm as it reaches hurricane strength (maximum sustained winds of 74 mph or higher).
On the list?
- Alberto
- Beryl
- Chris
- Debby
- Ernesto
- Florence
- Gordon
- Helene
- Isaac
- Joyce
- Kirk
- Leslie
- Michael
- Nadine
- Oscar
- Patty
- Rafael
- Sara
- Tony
- Valerie
- William
Forecasters are predicting an above average 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, with 14 named storms and 7 hurricanes.