She graduated from Texas State University with a degree in electronic media. Preventing Another “Unnatural Disaster” Ten Years After Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was not just a natural disaster – it was a failure of man. A Greek letter, on the contrary, has no replacement. The use of easily remembered names greatly reduces confusionwhen two or moretropical storms occur at the same time. The National Hurricane Center believes having a short, distinctive and easy to remember name streamlines communication of tropical threats. That year, six storms were assigned Greek letters for names. Related: > In an especially active hurricane season, could we run out of names?>. Just as no New York Yankee will ever again wear No. The name Dorian, attached to the cataclysmic storm that brutalized Grand Bahama and Abaco islands in September 2019, has not yet been retired — because the conference at which that agenda item is addressed was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In an especially active hurricane season, could we run out of names?>, according to the World Meteorological Organization. On the WMO site, officials state, “If a significant storm designated by a letter of the Greek Alphabet" -- for example, Delta -- "in either the Atlantic or eastern North Pacific Basin, was considered worthy of being ‘retired,’ it would be included in the list of retired names with the year of occurrence and other details, but that particular letter in the Greek Alphabet would continue to be available for use in the future.”. According to a new NASA study, a string of nine years without a major hurricane landfall in the US is Iikely to come along only once every 177 years. 2020 shattered another record when subtropical storm Theta, the 29th named storm this season, developed overnight in the Northeast Atlantic. Out of Names, National Hurricane Center Calls New Storms by Greek Letters This season is the second time ever that the list of 21 storm names … After moving through the Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, and now headed straight for the U.S., the storm is expected to grow, and likely put people and places in danger. Dawn is a Digital Content Editor who has been with Graham Media Group since April 2013. It’s highly likely meteorologists will have to dip into the Greek alphabet for additional storm names — but some fear this convention, as is, could be problematic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said there's a 60 percent chance of an above-normal hurricane season this year, calling for a likely range of 13 to 19 named storms. Names can be repeated after an interval of six years, but the names of especially severe storms are permanently retired from use. Whenever, there is a devastating hurricane (usually one that is a major hurricane, and has caused significant damage) in any portion of the Atlantic Basin, that hurricane's name is retired from the list for at least ten years, and probably forever so that future names are not confused with it. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Atlantic storms were only assigned female names. The only time the Greek alphabet has been used for storm names was back in 2005, when we had a total of 28 named storms, including the historic hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. He said international representatives even “talked [the U.S.] into” voting down the proposed change, the rejection was apparently agreed upon “unanimously.”. While covering Hurricane Katrina ripping through New Orleans five years ago, it struck me how the individual events that unfolded in the aftermath echoed similar tragedies I had photographed around the globe. But could a Greek alphabet letter be retired? The 22nd storm would be named Tropical Storm Alpha, the 23rd would be Tropical Storm Beta, and so on. There will always be that possibility every time a tropical system forms in the Atlantic. Louisiana residents who are still recovering from the devastation of a powerful hurricane less than two months ago braced for another hit as Hurricane Delta steamed north through the Gulf on Thursday after swiping Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the Associated Press reported. The US hasn’t experienced the landfall of a Category 3 hurricane or larger since 2005, when Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma all hit the US coast. Seven major hurricanes formed, with 27 named storms spinning up between June 2005 and January 2006. If you need help with the Public File, call 210-351-1241. “It intensified at twice the minimum rate needed to qualify as ‘rapid intensification.’”. We just don't know when. Some Atlantic Basin hurricanes have had their names retired. https://www.livescience.com/22522-hurricane-katrina-facts.html In 2005, a record-breaking year of devastating hurricanes, we made it through six Greek letters. “I think there was a kind of thinking, ‘We’ll deal with the [Greek letter] retirement issue if it ever comes up,’ ” said Franklin of the WMO’s decision, but he has a suspicion it may enter the conversation again this year. At the NOAA Hurricane Conference, held in November 2005, U.S. weather officials approved the measure for forwarding to the World Meteorological Organization. Considering we may tap into the Greek alphabet sooner this year than in 2005, when Tropical Storm Alpha formed on Oct. 22, there is a chance we dive deeper into the Greek alphabet. Dorian’s horrific eyewall slammed Grand Bahama Island for 40 hours straight. Franklin, along with several others, proposed maintaining a separate, seventh set of names in the mid-2000s. For example, the first three named storms of 2005 Arlene, Bret, and Cindy. This naming convention worked well in 2005, but with the looming likelihood it will be used again this year, meteorologists have some concerns with the practice. After passing over Florida, Katrina again … The National Hurricane Center will retire a name when there’s a storm so costly or deadly that using the same name in the future would be inappropriate. The solution is to use Greek letters to name any additional storms that form in a season. For that reason, the World Meteorological Organization develops a list of names that are assigned in alphabetical order to tropical storms as they are discovered in each hurricane season. Before 1978, Atlantic storms were only assigned female names. The Committee also agreed that it was not practical to retire into hurricane history a letter in the Greek alphabet. If a hurricane or tropical cyclone worldwide is “particularly deadly or costly, then its name is retired and replaced by another one,” based on protocols set by the World Meteorological Organization. He and his colleagues identified a flaw with the current system. “Actually, the rest of my colleagues internally at [the National Hurricane Center] decided, ‘No, let’s not do that,’ but then it got proposed elsewhere from [the National Weather Service], too.”. The first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane season will be Alberto. The 2005 hurricane season, which also saw the most named storms, saw the most names retired with five: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma. Dawn Jorgenson, Digital Content Editor, Graham Media Group. Another tropical storm formed Monday in the Atlantic Ocean, bringing this already-busy hurricane season closer to an all-time record. “I’m going to guess it’s going to come up again,” he said. Hugo. Twenty tropical storms and hurricanes have already been named in the Atlantic in 2020, with months left to go before the oceans finally settle. The Hurricane Committee addressed the issue in 2006, when the group decided that the use of the Greek alphabet was not expected to be used frequently enough to strike any of the letters from the list, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The list from 2018 will be used again in 2024. The National Hurricane Center will retire a name when there’s a storm so costly or deadly that using the same name in the future would be inappropriate. There is only one documented time before that in which we had to do so. Hurricanes have had names, some now infamous, for as long as we can remember- but that wasn’t always the case. It was like several stories in one – a hurricane of course, but there was little typical hurricane damage in the city. … Katrina Stalled over the Gulf of Mexico, gaining strength. If any year were to again run the risk of forcing a Greek name to be retired, 2020 is the year. I am sure that a Katrina like storm will hit the area sometime in the future. Ten years later, more needs to be done to modernize the Army Corps of Engineers, promote natural flood protection, and reduce reliance on levees. Live updates: Hurricane Sally begins prolonged assault on northern Gulf Coast with ‘historic’ flooding forecast. The Greek alphabet has only been utilized once before, during the infamous hurricane season of 2005. There's actually a worldwide organization that decides on lists of names to be used for tropical cyclones. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.”New … Since 1954, 89 names have been retired and replaced from the World Meteorological Organization’s six-year rotating list of hurricane names. I mean you could skip [a Greek letter], but that’s sort of weird.”. Not exactly. “They do this so that people never have to go through another Andrew, or Katrina, or Camille, or Maria, etc., ever again,” Gross said. That year, Katrina, Rita and Wilma were all retired. For 2005, 5 names are now retired: Katrina, Dennis, Rita, Stan and Wilma. “Even though it will be associated with this disaster, I think there are enough other associations that it will continue to be a popular name.” That was the case with Scarlett and Stephen Billis… Hurricanes were originally labeled by latitude-longitude numbers.It Only one name remains on the list of storm names, Wilfred. It took a short amount of time for the storm to grow, relatively speaking. Hurricanes and tropical storms in each year are named alphabetically with names of alternating gender. Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Buras, Louisana, 15 years ago on Aug. 29, 2005, as a Category 3 hurricane. Rather, the hurricane was named in accordance with the World Meteorological Organization’s lists of hurricane names, which rotate every six years. “I assume we’ll get to the Greek alphabet,” said Franklin. “I remembered proposing internally toward the end of 2005 as we got to the beginning of November that we come up with a secondary list of regular names that we would just use instead,” said Franklin. The WMO fears that it would be … The Atlantic hurricane season this year has stirred up storms at such a rapid rate that there is now only one entry — Wilfred — left on the 21-name list that meteorologists use for each season. It really only started in the early 20th century. The National Hurricane Center notes that, in these instances, “future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity.”. Naming progresses through the year with names assigned in alphabetical order. Some are even hoping the tradition will be revamped entirely. If it does end up being a deadly and costly storm, why wouldn’t it warrant retiring Delta? The last time we went through all the letters of the alphabet and moved on to the Greek alphabet was 2005. For example, one hurricane canbe moving slowly westward in the Gulf of Mexico, while at exactlythe same time another hurricane can be moving rapidly northward alongthe Atlantic coast. The World Meteorological Organization published an article Tuesday explaining how it intends to handle retiring a storm named using the Greek alphabet, if necessary. Katrina, for example, was replaced with Katia when the list cycled back in 2011. It might be important to note here, for anyone unfamiliar with the Greek alphabet, that the first letters are not individual letters, like our alphabet. The tropical depression that became Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and meteorologists were soon able to warn people in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm was on its way. Their replacement names are now on the 2005 list of hurricane names with after them. The second storm is given the name that begins with a "B." Since 1954, 89 names have been retired and replaced from the World Meteorological Organization’s six-year rotating list of hurricane names. The costliest storms were hurricanes Katrina in August 2005 and Harvey in August 2017; each storm struck the U.S. Gulf Coast, causing $125 billion in damage, much of it from flooding. “I think the U.S. proposed it again to WMO in 2010, and although I don’t have a record of it being rejected again, clearly it didn’t get approved,” Franklin said. There has never been an Atlantic hurricane … But what if a hurricane named after a Greek letter causes widespread damage or casualties? Instead, the letters are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on. Beta attained major hurricane status in late October, but it weakened slightly to a Category 2 before making landfall in Nicaragua. Yes, there have been five tropical storms so far with the name Maggie, and another one with Maggie being part of the name, though only one named Hurricane Maggie. So, despite the damage Delta may leave behind, it will still remain an option for use in the future -- for now, anyway. Among them is James Franklin, former chief of the hurricane specialist unit at the National Hurricane Center. “If we have a bad one and the name has to be retired, I think [the issue] has to be taken up again. Naming hurricanes and typhoons is a relatively new thing. By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. But when the United States sent delegates to the corresponding international meeting the following spring, the proposal was rejected. “They do not retire Greek alphabet storm names -- at least so far,” Gross said. The breakneck pace of the 2020 season has far outpaced the 11-storm seasonal average that usually prevails, and it has nearly exhausted the list of names that can be assigned to storms this year. Epsilon, the 26th named storm of … If there are more than 21 named storms in a given year, the Greek alphabet is used for subsequent storms. Katrina, for example, was replaced with Katia … The deadliest storm to have its name retired was Hurricane Mitch, which caused over 10,000 fatalities when it struck Central America during October 1998. There is no particular person for whom Hurricane Katrina was named. This is the MOST retired names for a single year ever! In 2005, five storm names, including Katrina, were retired – the most for a single season. These names, a bank reserved only for the “extra” storms during overactive seasons such as 2005 or 2020, would be easy to replace if one were retired. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Therefore, the “name” is also just the letter. ... Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005 — the year the most names ever were retired from the list, Feltgen said. “It strengthened from a tropical depression to a Category 4 storm in just over a day,” Meteorologist Paul Gross said. “What got reported back was something along the lines of, ‘We like the Greek alphabet because it’s special, it’s different, it conveys the uniqueness of having exceeded the regular alphabet,’ which didn’t strike me as a particularly logical reason,” said Franklin. In 1954, Carol and Hazel were the first hurricane retirees. The list of names is the same as … It presents an unusual case that, before 2020, hadn’t been thought about much. There will never be another Andrew, Hugo, Katrina, or Sandy. It was a disaster that has defined the Gulf Coast region ever since. Five tropical cyclones pack the Atlantic for only the second time on record. Many are aware that intense, destructive, deadly hurricane names are retired from name lists that are recycled for tropical cyclones. However, up to this point, there’s never been reason to consider retiring a Greek letter. The list of names used by […] Dorian. “Just hearing those names associated with an approaching storm would cause some people to panic.”. Early Wednesday, the storm made landfall as a Category 2 storm between the towns of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, packing sustained winds of 110 mph. Delta left fallen trees and electrical poles, as well as damage to building facades, and as it treks toward the U.S. now, meteorologists expect it to strengthen again before striking the Gulf Coast, so we can’t help but wonder: Can we retire a Greek hurricane name? The WMO “decided that if a significant storm designated by a letter of the Greek Alphabet, in either the Atlantic or eastern North Pacific Basin, was considered worthy of being ‘retired’, it would be included in the list of retired names with the year of occurrence and other details, but that the particular letter in the Greek Alphabet would continue to be available for use in the future,” the article stated. When a storm is particularly deadly, like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, that name is "retired" out of respect for its victims. We reached out to the National Hurricane Center to find out. Following the historical damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, the name “Katrina” was retired from the lists of names. There will never again be another Hurricane Sandy — at least, in name. 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