As Floridians cope with the devastation of Hurricane Milton this morning, one thing is clear: the name Milton will continue to evoke painful memories for Floridians alongside Helene, Debby and Ian for a long time to come.
All of these names, and many others, have been linked to death and billions of dollars in property damage.
But how do hurricanes get their names?
They are predetermined years in advance by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The WMO maintains six lists of 21 names in alphabetical order, which are rotated every six years.
Hurricane Milton tore through Florida yesterday, bringing up to 20 inches of rain, 100 mile-per-hour winds and a deadly wave of tornadoes to the sunny state
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In the event that the number of named storms exceeds 21, WMO will use its supplementary list of names.
This is a new change to the system. Until 2021, the agency used Greek letters to refer to tropical storms when their list of names ran out.
But the committee ended this practice over concerns about confusion, as the letters Zeta, Eta and Theta were too similar.
There is a chance that the number of named storms this year will exceed the WMO list, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted as many as 25 named storms for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
Milton is the thirteenth storm of the 2024 season, which has seen four tropical storms and nine hurricanes so far.
The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near Sarasota, Florida, around 8:30 PM ET on Wednesday.
Milton is now heading back out to sea, leaving more than three million people without power and four confirmed deaths.
Names for hurricanes are predetermined years in advance by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO maintains six lists of 21 names in alphabetical order, which are rotated every six years
Milton is the thirteenth storm of the 2024 season, which has seen four tropical storms and nine hurricanes so far
It is likely that Milton’s name will be retired at the end of the season.
According to the National Hurricane Center, a hurricane’s name is withdrawn when “a storm is so deadly or costly that future use of the name for another storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity.”
Some notable retired names include Harvey, Maria and Irma in 2017, Sandy in 2012, Katrina in 2005, Frances in 2004, Andrew in 1992 and Hugo in 1989.
These storms are remembered not only for the immediate destruction and loss of life they caused, but also for the lasting impact they had on communities and infrastructure.
For example, nearly two decades later, many New Orleans residents continue to suffer the effects of Hurricane Katrina, especially those from marginalized communities.
The list of names for the 2024 hurricane season includes Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Francine, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Milton, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sara, Tony, Valerie and Willem .
The earliest evidence of named tropical storms comes from Puerto Rico in the 16th century.
People of the island named hurricanes after the Roman Catholic saint who represented the day the hurricane struck.
The first record of a named tropical storm to hit Puerto Rico is Hurricane San Roque, which struck the southwestern part of the island in August 1508.
Puerto Ricans continued this tradition for centuries, until the 1960s.
The first storm not named after a saint was Tropical Storm Frances, which made landfall on the island on October 2, 1961.
But in the US, scientists tracked tropical storms and hurricanes by year and the order in which they occurred during that season until the 1950s, according to the National Ocean Service.
However, this system proved confusing, disorganized and difficult to communicate to the general public.
In 1950, the United Nations founded the WMO and the organization three years later decided to use common names to make tracking hurricanes and conveying information about them to the public easier and more efficient.
Storms are typically named when they reach tropical storm status, meaning they reach wind speeds of 40 to 75 miles per hour.
When wind speeds reach 74 mph or higher, the storm is classified as a hurricane.
Initially, tropical storms and hurricanes were given only feminine names.
This practice is borrowed from the Army’s phonetic alphabet Convoy of Hopea humanitarian non-profit organization.
But feminists in the 1960s objected to the use of feminine names for destructive natural disasters.
In 1978, both male and female names were used to identify storms in the North Pacific Ocean, and this was later adopted in 1979 for storms in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.