2019 and 2020 Cyclones Retirement (both years to be announced in 2021)

[AnnularCane]

Also, Ira is a male name, although I wouldn't be surprised if it has been used on females at least occasionally. (It's apparently also a nickname of the female name Irina in Russia.) If Imelda does get retired, I'm still rooting for Imogene, but I'm guessing it won't be.

I think the Greeks go well before 2005, since I remember back in 1992 that possibility being mentioned on TWC regarding the EPAC, although it never became necessary.

[ElectricStorm]

What about the replacements?

I think this:

Dorian: Darrel
Imelda: Ira
Lorenzo: Liam (I know someone with that name)
Isaias: Isaiah
Laura: Lyra
Sally: Scarlett

They wouldn't replace Isaias with Isaiah lol... IMO, Dorian, Laura, and maybe Sally are the only ones that need to go. And of course, I would like to see them ditch the Greeks in favor of a new system

What if they can't get rid of the Greeks? That policy for keeping the Greeks for Alt. use has been there since 2005, and what's next? Hebrew?

The name suggestions are just in case they are retired . . .

I'd like to see them do one of 2 things...
1) Do what the WPAC does and just rotate names beginning from where they left off last year. So if we end on the O storm this year, then next year would start with P instead of A.
2) Make a 7th list used for an auxiliary and use those names instead of the Greeks.

[BadLarry95]

Final Prefiction:

Dorian: Gone
Imelda: Stays
Lorenzo: Stays
Isaias: Gone
Laura: Gone
Sally: Gone
Greeks: New system; 2 year aux list

What about the replacements?

I think this:

Dorian: Darrel
Imelda: Ira
Lorenzo: Liam (I know someone with that name)
Isaias: Isaiah
Laura: Lyra
Sally: Scarlett

I’d go with

Dorian: Denzel
Imelda: Ivana
Lorenzo: Lucius
Isaias: Ilya
Laura: Luna
Sally: Sofia

Greeks: Replace with 2 year aux list starting at A with the opposite gender of the season’s W name

[aspen]

Final Prefiction:

Dorian: Gone
Imelda: Stays
Lorenzo: Stays
Isaias: Gone
Laura: Gone
Sally: Gone
Greeks: New system; 2 year aux list

What about the replacements?

I think this:

Dorian: Darrel
Imelda: Ira
Lorenzo: Liam (I know someone with that name)
Isaias: Isaiah
Laura: Lyra
Sally: Scarlett

I’d go with

Dorian: Denzel
Imelda: Ivana
Lorenzo: Lucius
Isaias: Ilya
Laura: Luna
Sally: Sofia

Greeks: Replace with 2 year aux list starting at A with the opposite gender of the season’s W name

I liked the idea of a single backup A-W name list to take the place of the Greeks (with the available option to retire/replace the names in that list), but I like that two-list option too. It keeps in line with the male/female name order of each year, similar to the alternating XYZ names in the EPac. It’ll also double the amount of available auxiliary names in case of another season like 2020.

[ClarCari]

TBH I wouldn’t be surprised if they hold off on replacing the greeks until they really need to since it may be in contention. If the current indicators for 2021 play out and we possibly run through the entire list again I could see them making a last second decision.
They did this in 1985 in the EPAC by adding X, Y, and Z names. Yes, for those of y'all that didn’t know this yet, the EPAC used to go to W only too until the NHC made a last second decision to add letters during an active season.

The NHC may tarry removing the Greek system until they absolutely need to do it.

[Category5Kaiju]

Here are my guesses for the regular names that will for sure be retired:

Dorian: Diego, Derek, or Dante
Laura: Lorraine, Lucy, or Leah

[BadLarry95]

Anyone know when the WMO meeting is?

[Iceresistance]

Anyone know when the WMO meeting is?

March 15th-17th, 2021

[ElectricStorm]

Anyone know when the WMO meeting is?

March 15th-17th, 2021

I believe there is another one in May 4-5. But the names will be retired in the March session

[Category5Kaiju]

Yeah, I have a feeling this upcoming WMO meeting will be one of their most interesting and important spring post-hurricane season meetings in a while. From the potential official start date change to the Greek letters and potential to adopt a new naming scheme in the future and to the discussions about the ferocity and activity of the 2020 hurricane season in general and better preparedness, this meeting is sure to cover some unique topics.

[aspen]

Anyone know when the WMO meeting is?

March 15th-17th, 2021

I believe there is another one in May 4-5. But the names will be retired in the March session

Has it been 100% confirmed that this is when they’ll retire names from 2019 and 2020? I haven’t seen a direct source saying so.

[Torino]

Costa Rica suggested the retirement of the names Eta and Iota. Their report was published yesterday.

[Category5Kaiju]

Costa Rica suggested the retirement of the names Eta and Iota. Their report was published yesterday.

As they should. Would not be surprised if Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua suggested those two retired as well. So given what you've just said I think this Greek retirement thing is definitely confirmed to be a topic of discussion next week.

[Iceresistance]

March 15th-17th, 2021

I believe there is another one in May 4-5. But the names will be retired in the March session

Has it been 100% confirmed that this is when they’ll retire names from 2019 and 2020? I haven’t seen a direct source saying so.

Link: https://public.wmo.int/en/events/meetings/43rd-session-of-hurricane-committee-hc-43-part-i-online

[CrazyC83]

So what happens if 2021 has 28 or 30 names and we get that far in the Greek Alphabet? I do agree Eta and Iota are easy retirements, up there with Laura.

[Category5Kaiju]

So what happens if 2021 has 28 or 30 names and we get that far in the Greek Alphabet? I do agree Eta and Iota are easy retirements, up there with Laura.

From Costa Rica's official document posted in the WMO 43rd Conference's "member reports" section, it seems as if they worded their request for Eta and Iota pretty firmly (I take Spanish as a foreign language, and the way they phrased their request literally translates as "we also suggest the removal of Eta and Iota from the list of names of tropical cyclones due to their impact on the region."). Maybe I am making a bit too much out of this, but something tells me Costa Rica at least is looking forward to never seeing "Eta" and Iota" as potential names ever again in the Atlantic, and the fact that they did not specify the retirements as "Eta 2020" or "Iota 2020" reinforces what I believe.

[Nuno]

How likely are we to actually see Eta or Iota again?

I still think names should eventually be unretired and put back into rotation, maybe 50/75 years after. We're going to run out of certain letters unless we switch to the WPAC system.

[Category5Kaiju]

How likely are we to actually see Eta or Iota again?

I still think names should eventually be unretired and put back into rotation, maybe 50/75 years after. We're going to run out of certain letters unless we switch to the WPAC system.

I don't know when the Atlantic will have 28 or 30 named storms again, but I think the original 2006 consensus was the Greeks were ok to use as they would have been used later in the season when storms tend to be very weak and sheared and that exceeding 21 names in a given season would be rare. 2020 decided to completely smash this idea to pieces since of course we made it to the Greeks within only 15 years (which is pretty short meteorological time-speaking) with some of those Greek storms being highly fatal and costly (I am excluding 2010 that just barely missed going Greek, although it certainly had potential). So in other words, who knows if a 28th or 30th named storm would happen in 2021, or 2025, or 2030? I just think that the possibility that it still exists is enough to warrant discussions on how to best be prepared.

And yes, speaking of naming schemes, I think the rolling set of names idea is quite popular in many basins around the world, including the WPAC, Australia, SPAC, CPAC, NIO, and South Atlantic; in fact, the only basins I can think of that use the A-first every year are the EPAC, Atlantic, and SW Indian Ocean. I know it may be quite a change for people in the Atlantic to get used to a rolling set of names technique should it actually come to fruition, but imho it is arguably the most efficient way of naming storms. Like I storms would not get heavily retired and names from A-W will certainly have an equal chance of being represented.

[Nuno]

How likely are we to actually see Eta or Iota again?

I still think names should eventually be unretired and put back into rotation, maybe 50/75 years after. We're going to run out of certain letters unless we switch to the WPAC system.

I don't know when the Atlantic will have 28 or 30 named storms again, but I think the original 2006 consensus was the Greeks were ok to use as they would have been used later in the season when storms tend to be very weak and sheared and that exceeding 21 names in a given season would be rare. 2020 decided to completely smash this idea to pieces since of course we made it to the Greeks within only 15 years (which is pretty short meteorological time-speaking) with some of those Greek storms being highly fatal and costly (I am excluding 2010 that just barely missed going Greek, although it certainly had potential). So in other words, who knows if a 28th or 30th named storm would happen in 2021, or 2025, or 2030? I just think that the possibility that it still exists is enough to warrant discussions on how to best be prepared.

And yes, speaking of naming schemes, I think the rolling set of names idea is quite popular in many basins around the world, including the WPAC, Australia, SPAC, CPAC, NIO, and South Atlantic; in fact, the only basins I can think of that use the A-first every year are the EPAC, Atlantic, and SW Indian Ocean. I know it may be quite a change for people in the Atlantic to get used to a rolling set of names technique should it actually come to fruition, but imho it is arguably the most efficient way of naming storms. Like I storms would not get heavily retired and names from A-W will certainly have an equal chance of being represented.

Honestly, I think only weather nerds are this much in-tune with such matters. The average person does not care or pay attention enough until a storm is threatening them directly. If the season hypothetically started on letter M or N, I don't think many laypeople will care. I agree about the rolling system being most efficient, and I think it easily solves the dual issue with not needing Greek names and not having the same bunch of letters lining up with peak season.

[BadLarry95]

How likely are we to actually see Eta or Iota again?

I still think names should eventually be unretired and put back into rotation, maybe 50/75 years after. We're going to run out of certain letters unless we switch to the WPAC system.

Certain names can be put back after say 40-50 years. But some like Katrina, Andrew, Sandy, Harvey, Maria, Mitch, Ike, Wilma and the like should all stay retired.

I could see bringing back names like Dennis, Isabel, Lili, Diana, or Noel