This is a list of retired Atlantic hurricane names. Hurricane names are retired by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a meeting in March, April, or May of each year. Those hurricanes that have their names retired tend to be exceptionally destructive storms that often become household names in the regions they affected. The process of retiring Atlantic hurricane names indefinitely officially began in 1969. Prior to 1969, significant storm names were retired for ten years. Since 1953, an average of one storm name has been retired for each season, though many seasons (most recently 2009) have had no storm names retired, and after the 2005 season, five names were retired. Storm names are retired following a request made at the spring WMO meeting by one or more of the countries affected by a hurricane. The most recent retired hurricane name was from Hurricane Irene, which struck the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States in August 2011.
Read more about List Of Retired Atlantic Hurricane Names: General Information, Landfalls
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