DENNIS,
KATRINA, RITA, STAN AND WILMA "RETIRED" FROM LIST OF STORM
NAMES
International Committee Selects Replacement Names for 2011 List
April
6, 2006 � Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma, all from
the historic 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, were "retired"
by an international hurricane committee of the World Meteorological
Organization, which includes the NOAA
National Hurricane Center, during their annual meeting in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. Now retired, these five storms, part of last season's record-setting
28 named storms and 15 hurricanes, will not reappear on the list of
potential storm names that is otherwise recycled every six years. (Click
NOAA illustration for larger view of Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita
and Wilma. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
Dennis, Katrina,
Rita, Stan and Wilma represent the type of devastating storm that is
"retired" for causing a large loss of life and property. These
names will not be used again for sensitivity reasons and to establish
distinction within the scientific and legal communities.
For 2011, Dennis,
Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma have been replaced with Don, Katia, Rina,
Sean and Whitney, respectively.
Since tropical cyclones
were first named in 1953, 67 names have been retired (the first being
Carol and Hazel in 1954), and with a total of five, 2005 has the most
retired storm names in a single season (previous record: four in 1955,
1995 and 2004).
A synopsis
of the newly retired storms:
- Dennis
began its path of destruction in early July while passing between
Jamaica and Haiti and then crossing Cuba with estimated top winds
of 140 mph. After tracking north across the eastern Gulf of Mexico,
Dennis came ashore on Santa Rosa Island, Fla., as a Category 3 hurricane
on July 10 with top winds estimated at 120 mph. At least 54 deaths
are directly or indirectly attributed to Dennis, including 15 in the
U.S, most from within Florida.
- Katrina
became the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history
with damage costs exceeding $50 billion and fatalities, directly and
indirectly, topping 1,300. Katrina came ashore at Buras, La., as a
Category 3 hurricane on August 29 with top winds estimated at 125
mph. Additionally, Katrina was a Category 1 hurricane when it first
struck the U.S. near the Broward/Miami-Dade County line in Florida
on August 24 after bringing tropical storm conditions to the northern
Bahamas.
- Rita
made landfall in extreme southwestern Louisiana, near the Texas border,
as a Category 3 hurricane with top winds of 115 mph on September 24.
Rita reached Category 5 strength with top winds estimated at 180 mph
over the central Gulf of Mexico, where it had the fourth-lowest central
pressure on record (895 millibars) in the Atlantic Basin. Rita produced
a significant storm surge that devastated coastal communities in southwestern
Louisiana, and its wind, rain, and tornadoes caused fatalities and
a wide swath of damage from eastern Texas to Alabama. Rita also produced
storm surge flooding in parts of the Florida Keys as the storm's center
passed between the Keys and Cuba en route to the Gulf Coast.
- Stan,
in combination with other weather features, produced torrential rainfall
in Mexico and Central America where the combined death toll is estimated
to be as high as 2,000. Stan first crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula
as a tropical storm, then moved southwest across the Bay of Campeche
and hit as a Category 1 hurricane about 90 miles southeast of Veracruz,
Mexico, on October 4.
- Wilma
was an extremely intense Category 5 hurricane over the northwestern
Caribbean Sea with estimated tops winds of 185 mph and the all-time
lowest central pressure (882 millibars) for an Atlantic Basin hurricane.
A slow-moving Wilma devastated coastal areas of the northeastern Yucatan
Peninsula of Mexico as a Category 4 hurricane. It later raced into
South Florida—coming ashore near Cape Romano, Fla., at Category
3 intensity with top winds estimated at 120 mph on October 24—and
inflicting extensive damage.
Names for
the upcoming 2006 season, which begins June 1, include Alberto, Beryl,
Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk,
Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie,
William. On this list Kirk replaces Keith, which was retired following
its impact on Mexico and Belize in 2000.
NOAA, an
agency of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal
and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, 61 countries and the European
Commission to develop a global network that is as integrated as the
planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Relevant Web Sites
NOAA National Hurricane Center
NOAA
Hurricanes Page
NOAA
Satellite Images of 2005 Storm Events
Retired
Names
Storm
Names
NOAA
History of Naming Storms
NOAA Storm
Reports (PDF):
Media
Contact:
Chris Vaccaro, NOAA
National Weather Service, (301) 713-0622 ext. 142
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