Hurricane Brain Teaser - Answer at the bottom post

[AJC3]

I thought this might be a cool little pre-season diversion. A couple ground rules in the name of good sportmanship:

(1) NO looking the answer up. That's too easy. See if you can get it without doing so.
(2) To give everyone a chance to answer, I'm locking this post. Send me your answers/guesses via PM. You can guess more than once.

I'll post the answer at the end of next week, along with a list of members who figured it out. And I know at least one person on here should get this. (edit: He DID get this )

OK, here goes. After the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season, the name Agnes was retired because of all the devastation and loss of life it caused in the U.S. However, that name had already been retired in the Atlantic basin before. Sort of.

What the heck do I mean here?

Go...

[AJC3]

OK, I've gotten one guess via PM, and another on FB Messenger from the person who got it right.

Given the dearth of guesses so far, I'll extend the deadline through the end of next week. Maybe I can get a few more of y'all to throw out a guess or two.

[AJC3]

OK. I think I've succeeded in throroughly confusing the lot of you. So here are a couple of hints...

(1) Hurricane enthusiasts who are native to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or almost every other country in central or South America, would have a higher chance of figuring the answer out.

(2) Once you figure out why that's the case, use a popular feature of Google, and you should get the answer.

Stew on those hints for a while, and If you're still stumped, PM me and I'll give you a hint that will make it a lot easier for you to figure it out.

[AJC3]

Today is the last day to take a guess - I'll give out the answer Friday.

Shout outs to the S2K members who have gotten it correct so far!!
Luis
Teban54
TheAustinMan
HurricaneHink
Europa non è lontana
Chris90
AtlanticWind

[AJC3]

OK gang, for those who may not have figured it out, here's the answer...

So...how can a storm name be retired when it had already "kind of" been retired within the same basin?

Well, the Spanish and Portuguese equivalent for the name Agnes is Inez (or Ines). I believe the former is more popular in Spain/Portugal and Brazil, while the latter is more common in other Spanish speaking counties. As many of you already knew and made the connection, Inez was a powerful Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in 1966 that resulted in significant death (>1000 people) and destruction ($225M in 1966, $2.17B normalized to 2024). Subsequently, the name Inez was retired after the season ended.

Thanks to all who participated!