Decision day for ‘Ian’: Meteorologists decide Wednesday if name stays on hurricane list
When the Hurricane Committee for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) meets on Wednesday in Costa Rica, one agenda item should capture the attention of everyone living in Southwest Florida who experienced the wrath of Hurricane Ian on Sept. 28, 2022.
The committee of meteorologists is expected to retire the name 'Ian' forever from the list of hurricane names for Atlantic Basin storms.
In an email from WMO headquarters in Geneva, Clare Nullis, media officer in the Cabinet Office of the Secretary-General for the WMO, confirmed "the hurricane names will be considered Wednesday."
More:Will Ian be retired from the hurricane names list and when will it happen?
Ian would become the 95th Atlantic Basin name to be retired.
According to the WMO website, a storm name is retired if it is considered "so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity."
Hurricane Ian, a powerful Category 4 storm, was the third-costliest weather disaster on record, and the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. It resulted in more than 160 deaths and caused $113 billion in damages.
In a story published on news-press.com on Oct. 26, 2022, Nullis said the Hurricane Committee covers the entire region (North Atlantic, Caribbean and Latin America) and is chaired by the head of the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
"The decision to retire names is by a vote — but usually there is a high degree of consensus or unanimity, and so it is a quick procedure," Nullis said.
Once the vote is made and there is approval of retiring a name, the committee will select a replacement name starting with the same letter, Nullis said.
Hurricane names are recycled every six years.
If the committee decides not to retire a name, it remains on the list. If, for some reason, Ian wasn't retired on Wednesday, it would be back on the hurricane names list for the 2028 season.
"There is usually a vote to decide on a replacement name," Nullis said in October. "We have to ensure that it hasn't been used before, that it isn't used in any other tropical cyclone basin, and that it is easily understandable in a region where English, French and Spanish (and Creole) is spoken, and that it is culturally appropriate."
The annual meeting is being held in San Jose, Costa Rica, from Monday to Friday.
Q&A: Did you know?
If Ian is retired from the list Wednesday, it should be a day of celebration for Southwest Floridians. The last hurricane to hit this part of the state — Irma in 2017 — has been retired. In fact, storm names starting with the letter 'I' are the most retired names.
Which hurricane names are retired?
There are too many to list here. You can check out the retired names HERE, at wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/retired-hurricane-names.
Which hurricane names starting with I are retired?
Iona, Inez, Iris, Isidore, Isabel, Ivan, Ike, Igor, Irene, Ingrid, Irma, Iota, Ida.
Were hurricanes named Ian before 2022?
Yes. The name Ian has been used for eight tropical cyclones worldwide — two in the Atlantic Ocean, two in the Western Pacific Ocean and four in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. The most recent before last year was Tropical Storm Ian in 2016. It didn't pose any threat to land.
What is the ‘I’ name for the 2023 hurricane season?
Idalia.
What hurricane name will replace Ian if it is retired?
We won't know until the World Meteorlogical Organization Hurricane Committee meets on Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane names: Will Ian be retired from atlantic basin list by WMO
