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GENEVA: The names of Atlantic hurricanes Dorian, Laura, Eta and Iota are being removed due to the trail of death and destruction they left in their wake, the UN World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday (March 17).
All four names were removed from the lists after a two-day virtual meeting of the Hurricane Committee of 28 WMO countries serving North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
“We have withdrawn some hurricane names based on the impact on lives and property,” said committee chair Ken Graham, director of the US National Hurricane Center.
During 2020, an unprecedented 30 named Atlantic storms caused at least 400 deaths and cost $ 41 billion in damage.
“Considering a record season during the global pandemic, many lives were saved thanks to the work of this committee,” said Graham.
“It is critical that we have a plan, coordinate our efforts, and share challenges and best practices.”
Throughout the annual Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, storms are given names to make them easier to identify in warning messages.
The storms are assigned alternate male and female names in alphabetical order, this year beginning with Ana, Bill, and Claudette.
They are reused every six years, although if any hurricane is particularly devastating, its name is removed and replaced.
DEXTER AND LEAH LISTINGS
Dexter will replace Dorian on the list of names that will return in 2025; Leah will replace Laura in 2026.
Name lists use 21 of the 26 letters of the alphabet due to the difficulty of finding a balance of six easily recognizable English, Spanish, French and Dutch names beginning with Q, U, X, Y and Z, the languages spoken in the Atlantic and Caribbean regions affected.
If there are more than 21 named storms in a year, as happened in 2005 and 2020, the names would start to cycle through the letters of the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha and Beta.
However, starting in 2021, the Greek alphabet will be replaced by a permanent supplementary list of names, in alphabetical order.
The overflowing list of names to be used from now on starts with Adria, Braylen, Caridad, Deshawn, Emery, Foster, Gemma, Heath, and Isla.
“There is confusion with some names in the Greek alphabet when they are translated,” said the Geneva-based WMO.
Additionally, the letters Zeta, Eta, and Theta occur in succession, resulting last year in simultaneous storms of similar sound, negating the purpose of naming them to help ensure clear communication.
2020 RECORD
Dorian in 2019 was the strongest hurricane to hit the northwestern Bahamas in modern records, causing total damage estimated at $ 3.4 billion. An estimated 29,500 people were left homeless and / or jobless.
The 2020 season got off to an early and fast start with a record nine named storms in May, June and July.
The season ended late, with two major hurricanes in November for the first time on record.
Laura made landfall in August in Louisiana, accompanied by a devastating storm surge at least five meters above ground level. Laura was responsible for 47 deaths in the United States and Hispaniola, and more than $ 19 billion in damages.
Eta and Iota made landfall less than two weeks apart during November 2020 on the same stretch of the Nicaraguan coast.
The two powerful storms caused major flooding in Nicaragua, Honduras and adjacent Central American countries, causing at least 272 deaths and damage losses of more than $ 9 billion.
In all, 93 names have been removed from the Atlantic basin list since 1953, when storms began to be named under the current system.
More than a century of temperature and precipitation data, along with decades of satellite data on hurricanes and sea level rises, have left no doubt that warming of the Earth’s surface temperature is amplifying the impact of the extreme weather disasters.
Massive tropical storms are now more likely to be stronger, last longer, carry more water, and move beyond their historic range.
