Florida, United States.
The Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Wednesday that it has removed from the list to name tropical cyclones in the Atlantic the names Dorian (2019) and Laura, Eta and Iota (2020) due of the trail of death and destruction they left in their wake.
The four names were removed from the list after a two-day meeting of the WMO Hurricane Committee, the body responsible for the matter for North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The committee’s work “is critical to ensuring coordination between nations long before the next storm threatens the population,” said Ken Graham, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
“Hurricanes do not understand international borders. We all face similar dangers due to tropical systems. The consequences of a single storm can affect several countries, so it is critical that we have a plan, coordinate efforts and share difficulties encountered and best practices, “he added.
Throughout the annual hurricane season beginning June 1, storms are assigned male and female names in alphabetical order. Last year started with Arthur and Bertha.
Storms are named to make them easier to identify in warning messages.
The names are monitored by the (WMO) and the list is reused every six years, although if any hurricane is particularly devastating, its name is removed and replaced.
The list uses 21 of the 26 letters of the alphabet because of the difficulty of easily recognizing Q, U, X, Y, and Z in English, Spanish, French, and Dutch, languages spoken in the affected Atlantic and Caribbean regions.
Dexter will replace Dorian on the roster; Leah will replace Laura. When there have been more storms than the baptisms on the list, as happened in 2005 and 2020, the Greek alphabet has been resorted to.
However, the WMO said Wednesday that the Greek alphabet will be replaced by an additional list of names.
“It is a source of distraction when it comes to warning about dangers and storms that can also lead to confusion,” the WMO said.
In all, 93 names have been removed from the lists used for the Atlantic basin since 1953, when the current system for baptizing storms began to be used.
The 30 Atlantic hurricanes of 2020, which broke the record, caused at least 400 deaths and $ 41 billion in damage.