There have been 99 storms retired in the Atlantic Ocean. The practice began in 1954. Many modern storms prior to that, since records begin in in the mid-1880s, would have also been retired if they were named. Instead, we often call them by where they struck, like the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane.

There’s a tendency for retired storms to start with the letter “I,” probably because “I” storms tend to come near peak season. However, all letters except “V” have been retired at least once and letters beyond the alphabet have as well.
Although not included above, in 2020 the storms Eta and Iota were retired after the whole regular alphabet list was used and we ran into the Greek letters. Following that season it was decided a secondary list of names in the same format as the main will be used when necessary.
Below you can see where each retired storm begins. Zoom in and out — take a look around. Do you notice any hotspots?
Leave a Reply