ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Ians and Irmas have it tough when it comes to being the names for hurricanes. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the "I's" are the most retired name by letter.
With a whopping 14 retired names with the letter "I" between 1954 and 2022, these "I" names are associated with some of the deadliest storms.
NOAA says, "for Atlantic hurricanes, there is a list of names for each of six years. In other words, one list is repeated every sixth year." For example, the names that were used for the 2022 season will be reused again in 2028 with a new "F" and "I" name to replace Fiona and Ian.
The World Meteorological Organization has decided to replace Fiona with Farrah and is replacing Ian with Idris.
But when a storm is so deadly or costly the future use of the name on a different storm would be "would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity," so it's retired.
It has been six months since Hurricane Ian ripped through Southwest Florida. Now, the WMO officially retired the name Ian from the Atlantic hurricane naming list on Wednesday. This likely does not come as a surprise to many.
According to the WMO, Ian was responsible for over $112 billion of damage across the U.S. That makes it the costliest hurricane in Florida's history and the third costliest in the nation's history. Ian also was responsible for over 150 direct and indirect deaths.
Ian was not the only storm name to be retired from the 2022 season. Fiona was also retired after causing a trail of devastation across Puerto Rico and other Caribbean countries. Fiona and Ian now make the 95th and 96th names retired in the Atlantic basin.
This is the eighth straight season with one or more Atlantic names being retired. The last season we didn't have a name retired was the 2014 Hurricane Season.
Below is the list of names for the 2023 Hurricane Season, let's hope this year goes by with no names being retired.
