2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season Tracks - Click to enlarge
After reviewing the 2010 hurricane season, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has retired two hurricane names from the sextennial list of North Atlantic hurricane names. The WMO retires a name when a storm causes a large amount of death and destruction, as any subsequent use of the storm's name would be insensitive to those affected. Some of the more infamous hurricanes whose names have been retired over the years are Isabel (2003), Charley (2004), Katrina (2005), and Ike (2008).
According to the NOAA press release, the two retired names are Igor and Tomas. These two names will be replaced with Ian and Tobias when this list is used again in 2016.
The press release gives the following reasoning for the retirement of these two names:
- Igor -- Killing 3 people and causing $200,000,000 USD in damages in Newfoundland.
- Tomas -- 49 deaths in Haiti & St. Lucia, along with $500,000,000 USD in damages.
(The following stats on Hurricanes Igor and Tomas are from my December diary recapping the 2010 hurricane season)
Hurricane Igor
September 8 through September 21
155 MPH - Category 4
925mb
Hurricane Igor formed from a tropical wave over the Cape Verde Islands, and moved westward across the open Atlantic. About 1500 miles east of the Leeward Islands, Igor rapidly developed into a Category 4 hurricane and turned northwestward towards Bermuda. Igor passed 10-20 miles west of Bermuda on September 19th, bringing 80-90 MPH winds, heavy rains, and extreme waves to the island. After departing Bermuda, Igor grew into an extremely large storm, almost the size of Texas, as it crossed the Canadian Maritimes and turned extratropical.
Hurricane Igor's wind swath history, via NHC
Hurricane Tomas
October 29 through November 7
100 MPH - Category 2
982mb
Hurricane Tomas, the last storm of the year and only the third time in recorded history that the Atlantic hurricane season recorded a "T" storm, developed from a tropical wave just east of the Lesser Antilles. After gaining Hurricane strength over the islands, wind shear and dry air took their toll on the system, and weakened Tomas to a weak Tropical Storm. Tomas wandered westward before curving to the north and regaining Hurricane strength. The storm came dangerously close to Nature-ravaged Haiti, squeezing just between Haiti and Cuba before entering the Atlantic east of the Bahamas and dissipating.
Hurricane Tomas' wind swath history, via NHC