Why So Many Retired Hurricane Names Start With the Letter I
Hurricane Isaias serves as a stark reminder that all it takes is one major storm to unleash significant damage. This storm will go down in history as the latest first hurricane of the Atlantic season, making landfall on October 9 along the Florida Gulf Coast. While the first hurricane of the year took its time, it is not unusual for storms beginning with the letter "I" to be capable of unleashing disastrous impacts. Why is this? Read on.
Why Storm Names Are Retired
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has retired 100 tropical storm names over the last 70 years due to the negative associations with the name. Retirement happens when the WMO determines that the storm was too deadly or costly for the name to remain in the rotation. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a name is pulled out of the rotation when "the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity."
There are no concrete rules that determine when a name is retired. Instead, it is based on human interpretation of how the storm impacted the people in its path. However, it is the letter I that leads the pack in retired Atlantic names, coming in with 14 retirees. This means that some of the most notorious tropical weather events have started with this letter. For context, the letter "F" is in second place, with 10 retired storms.
It is not a coincidence that this letter is the most commonly retired in the Atlantic basin. The naming conventions used by the WMO are alphabetical, meaning that by the time the list rolls around to the letter I, the basin is typically reaching its peak of production. This is also the time of the year when environmental conditions are more supportive of explosive storms. As such, the I storms are inherently some of the strongest.
The most recent storm beginning with this letter to be retired was in 2022, when Ian was struck from the list. Ian came ashore on September 27 in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm was able to strengthen as it churned through the warm waters of the Atlantic, making landfall one day later in Lee County, Florida, as a massive Category 4 storm.
Hurricane Ian was blamed for 149 deaths, making it the deadliest storm to impact Florida since 1935. A top wind gust of 128 mph was notched in Grove City. The storm was responsible for over $112 billion of damage in the U.S., earning it the distinction of the costliest hurricane to ever hit Florida.
History of the Naming Conventions
Forecasters lean on six defined lists of names that rotate through cycles. The WMO uses a specific name to identify a storm as a way of communicating the potential impacts of an event with the public. It is easier for people to remember a name rather than a numerical designation.
Although hurricanes had been given loose monikers since the 1800s, it was not until 1953 that the formal International Phonetic Alphabet was rolled out. The NHC explains that this was the year that the U.S. began using female names to identify storms. Male names were added to the rotating list in 1978 in the Eastern Pacific. These male names were then added to the rotation in the Atlantic the following year.
It is interesting to note that the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are never used in the lists in the Atlantic. This differs from the Eastern Pacific, a basin that does use X, Y, and Z in its naming conventions.
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