GSBHurricane wrote:Torino wrote:Dora might be the first name to be retired from both basins
Wasn't Hazel retired in the EPAC after 1965? Also, given Hawaii's history with requesting names to be retired, I wouldn't be surprised if Dora's retirement from the EPAC is rejected.
While Hazel was indeed retired in the Atlantic in 1954 and EPAC in 1965, there's a more interesting story behind that.
Carol, Edna and Hazel were among the first batch of retired storms in the Atlantic in 1954. At that time, the plan was to retire names for only 10 years, after which they would be available for use again.
(Imagine if Katrina was reused in 2015.) Because of this, Carol was again used in the 1965 Atlantic season, but that decision angered the research community which was still writing papers on the 1954 storms. Thus, Carol and all other retired names were permanently retired in the spring of 1969, despite Carol 1965 doing no damage. Likewise, Edna was reused in the Atlantic in 1968, but also (theoretically) retired permanently in 1969.
As for
Hazel, it entered the Pacific naming list in the 1963 season, then again in the 1965 season.
(From 1960 to 1965, EPAC used four A-W wrap-around naming lists like WPAC does today, but for some reason 1965 returned to the same set of names as 1963 after reaching W.) Hazel 1965 did impact Mexico after peaking as a tropical storm, but with 6 casualties and $10 million in damage, it's hard to say whether it was worthy of retirement for its impacts. I'm also not sure if Mexico officially requested its retirement in 1966, like standard practice now. (The only
source that Wikipedia cited only said "HAZEL was removed after its 1965 usage and replaced with HEATHER in the list for 1969.")
In fact, many other EPAC storms in the 1960s made landfall as hurricanes
(Diana 1960, Iva and Tara 1961, Valerie and Doreen 1962, Emily and Mona 1963, Adele 1966, Katrina and Olivia 1967, Naomi and Pauline 1968, and Jennifer 1969). Of these, Tara 1961 caused 436 fatalities and $16 million damage, both surpassing Hazel 1965; Olivia 1967 made a Cat 3 landfall on Baja California that killed at least 61; Naomi 1968 also out-damaged Hazel at $16 million. Yet, none were retired, and the first two are coincidentally on the EPAC naming list today.
The fact that Hazel was retired while more damaging EPAC storms were not, combined with the coincidence of time for both Carol 1965 and Hazel 1965, raise a question:
Was Hazel 1965 retired for its own damage, or solely due to the switch from 10-year retirements to permanent retirements?One relevant fact: in the 1960s and 70s, Atlantic names (even retired ones) frequently entered Pacific naming lists. For the original 4 EPAC naming lists (1960-1977, female only), examples include:
- Connie: Retired in ATL in 1955, on EPAC naming lists in 1966, 1970, 1974
- Florence: On ATL naming lists in 1953, 1954, 1960, 1964, on EPAC naming lists in 1963, 1965, 1969, 1973, 1977
- Ione: Retired in ATL in 1955, on EPAC naming lists in 1966, 1970, 1974
(The name Florence is particularly interesting. 1960 was when both Atlantic and EPAC created 4 sets of naming lists each, and somehow Florence is on both of them! This is before considering that Florence was also on the very first Atlantic naming list in 1953, and later on the set of 6 modern naming lists since 1979, before finally being retired in 2018 for good.)The above are all names that EPAC took on in 1960, despite knowing that they were either retired in the Atlantic before, or also put on the Atlantic naming lists in the same year. Even when the 6 modern naming lists (male and female) started in the EPAC in 1978*, retired Atlantic names still made their way to EPAC:
- Celia: Retired in ATL in 1970, first on EPAC list in 1980, now List 2 to be used in 2028
- Dora: Retired in ATL in 1964, first on EPAC list in 1981, now List 3 and used in 2023
- Hilda: Retired in ATL in 1964, first on EPAC list in 1979, now List 1 to be used in 2027
* Technically, this is inaccurate: EPAC only had 4 male/female lists in 1978, but when the next rotation started in 1982, two more sets were added to match Atlantic's frequency of 6 naming lists.These factors seem to suggest there's a lack of coordination between the Atlantic and Pacific naming lists at that time, which in turn suggests Hazel's retirement after 1965 was likely due to its own damage in the EPAC, and not because of Hazel 1954 in the Atlantic... But really?
Turns out, even coordination within the Atlantic was also messy. In 1971, the newly established NOAA created 10 new rotating naming lists in the Atlantic starting that year, though the last two (1979-80) were never used. Remember when I said Edna was "theoretically" retired permanently in 1969? Guess what -- just 2 years later, it came back on one of these naming lists, scheduled to appear in 1972. Fortunately, the 1972 season was very inactive and stopped at D, so Edna was never used again. But this illustrates the messy state of hurricane naming and lack of care during that era: not only across the two basins that are both under NHC today, but also across different agencies over time in the same basin. (NHC was founded in 1965, and I could not find information on who was responsible for naming storms in either basin from 1953 to 1970.)
Ultimately, the real cause of Hazel 1965's retirement in the EPAC remains unclear. If you believe that Atlantic names contributed little to the Pacific naming lists, as seen from EPAC's repeated inclusion of retired or concurrent Atlantic names in 1960 and 1978 (and the Atlantic itself in 1971), then Hazel 1965 would have been retired for the Pacific storm, making its status as
the only name retired due to Atlantic and Pacific storms well-deserved. On the other hand, there's a real argument for claiming Hazel was only retired because of the 1954 Atlantic storm, especially if you think whoever was handling the Atlantic naming lists in 1969 also made sure to check the Pacific list in the same year. In that case, Hazel would have an even more unique honor of being
the only Pacific name to be retired because of an Atlantic storm.
(I will note that EPAC retirements have been strange even since the beginning, before the modern naming lists. Adele 1970 was retired despite being an OTS storm, though it might possibly be because Adele 1966 hit land.)Much of the information comes from
this,
this, and Wikipedia.
