List of retired Atlantic hurricane names

[1] The naming of North Atlantic tropical cyclones is currently under the oversight of the Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The decision on whether to remove a name in a given season is made at the annual session of the WMO Hurricane Committee in the spring of the following year.

In 1977, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) transferred control of the naming lists to the Hurricane Committee.

The deadliest storm to have its name retired was Hurricane Mitch, which caused over 10,000 fatalities when it struck Central America in October 1998.

By 1947, tropical cyclones developing in the North Atlantic Ocean were named by the United States Army Air Forces in private communications between weather centers and aircraft using the phonetic alphabet.

[8] The committee subsequently discuss the proposal and either through building consensus or a majority vote decides if the name should be retired or withdrawn.

In March 2017, members of the British Caribbean Territories proposed that a third retirement criterion be added: the tropical cyclone must have sustained winds of at least 96 mph (154 km/h).

[10] According to the WMO's initial policy established in 2006, the Greek letter named storms could never be retired "lest an irreplaceable chunk be taken out of the alphabet."

[11] However, this plan was never implemented, as the names Eta and Iota were both formally retired without the year descriptor by the WMO in 2021.

[2][28] This request was subsequently accepted and led to today's practice of retiring names of significant tropical cyclones permanently.

Hurricane Gilbert was the most intense tropical cyclone during the decade by pressure, with a minimum value of 888 hPa (26.22 inHg).

During the 1990s, the Atlantic Ocean moved into its active era, which led to more tropical cyclones forming during the hurricane seasons.

[nb 2] The decade featured one of the costliest tropical cyclones on record, Hurricane Katrina, which inflicted roughly US$125 billion in damage across the Gulf Coast of the United States.

[90] During October 2005, Hurricane Wilma became the most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record, with a central pressure of 882 hPa (26.05 inHg).

[133] Hurricane Ida made landfall in southeastern Louisiana with sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h); the costliest hurricane of the 2021 season, Ida caused $75 billion damage and directly caused 55 deaths from the southeastern United States to New England.

[1][134] Hurricane Fiona caused major devastation to the islands in the Caribbean Sea and was the most intense storm by barometric pressure to strike Atlantic Canada.

Ian made landfall in western Florida and devastated the state before losing hurricane strength.

Thereafter, Ian entered the Atlantic Ocean, intensifying to Category 1 strength, and hit the coast of South Carolina.