Florence, Michael Retired As Hurricane Names

MIAMI, FL — We won't have Florence and Michael to kick us around anymore. The National Hurricane Center in Miami announced that the now infamous hurricane names have been retired.

But, it's not too soon to start bracing for Francine and Milton, which are the replacement names set to debut in the 2024 list of storm names.

"Florence and Michael won’t have another chance to wreak havoc in the Atlantic Basin," said officials at the National Hurricane Center in announcing the action by the World Meteorological Organization's Region IV Hurricane Committee of which NOAA is a member.

Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive — otherwise names are reused on a six-year cycle.

Last year Irma, Harvey, Maria and Nate were removed from the Atlantic list, according to NOAA. Florence and Michael were the only two this year.

"Including these two, 88 names have been retired from the Atlantic basin list since 1953, when storms began to be named," weather officials said. "The 2005 hurricane season has the most retired names – five – for one season."

Weather historians will remember Florence as one of the deadliest and most costly hurricanes to hit the Carolinas.

Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on September 14, 2018 and moved slowly inland with heavy rain, storm surge and record flooding, weather officials explained.

"It caused at least 51 deaths and produced extensive flooding across much of the Carolinas and Virginia," weather officials said.

On the back end of the hurricane one-two punch, Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida on Oct. 10, 2018 with sustained winds of 155 mph.

"This was the third most intense hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous U.S. based on central pressure, and the fourth most intense based on wind speed," weather officials said. "It was also the most intense hurricane on record to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle, where it caused widespread devastation and farther inland across Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. There were at least 45 fatalities blamed on the storm in the United States."

NOAA's National Hurricane Center is responsible for issuing tropical cyclone forecasts and warnings for both the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins.