Hurricane Names Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate Retired

The names of hurricanes that killed hundreds of people in 2017 and helped cause more than $215 billion in damage have been retired, never to be used again for the Atlantic.

Say good-bye, and good riddance, to Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate.

The World Meteorological Organization added the names to a roster of 82 others they won’t re-use because of the death and destruction they caused, the National Hurricane Center said in a statement. Andrew, Camille and Katrina are already on the list, which has been growing since the first hurrricane was given a name in 1954.

“Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive,” the hurricane center said. Names that aren’t retired are simply reused every six years.

After 2005, when Katrina hit, five names were dropped, the most ever. Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate will be replaced with Harold, Idalia, Margot and Nigel, the group said.

This year is more difficult to call because neither the Atlantic nor the Pacific is offering forecasters a lot of clues, Klotzbach said.