Some of the most notorious hurricanes in history have begun with the letter ‘I'. In recent years, Ian, Ida and Irma already have left behind death and destruction in the United States.
00:00As we continue to track future Imelda and any impacts to the United States, it's important to remember some of the most notorious hurricanes in history have begun with the letter I.
00:09In recent years, Ian, Ida, and Irma all wreaked havoc and left behind death and destruction in the United States.
00:15Since 1954, 99 tropical storm names have been retired in the Atlantic.
00:20Names get retired when storms reach a certain threshold and are considered too deadly and costly to remain on the hurricane season list.
00:26Thirteen storms, beginning with the letter I, have been retired.
00:30The runner-up is the letter F, which has ten retired storms.
00:34So why have more storms starting with the letter I been retired than any other letter?
00:39Well, it's mostly coincidence since retirement doesn't have hard and fast rules, relying instead on human interpretation of storms' effect on people.
00:46Historically speaking, the ninth-named storm, which correlates with the letter I, develops around September 16th, which does fall in the peak of hurricane season.
00:55But if it was just related to the time of year, then letters like H and J should be pretty high, or even G and K for that matter.
01:03And they're not.
01:04Forecasters utilize six rotating lists of names to identify storms on an annual basis in the Atlantic.
01:11According to the World Meteorological Organization, storms are assigned names in part to help communicate storm warnings and raise awareness about the life-threatening risk they pose.
01:19Hurricanes have been given various names dating back to the 1800s, but in 1953, a new international phonetic alphabet was introduced to name storms occurring to the National Hurricane Center.
01:31This was the year that the United States started using female names for storms.
01:35That process remained in place until 1978, when male names were added to the East Pacific storm list.
01:42And in 1979, a rotating list of male and female names were used in the Atlantic.
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