IRENE RETIRED FROM LIST OF HURRICANE NAMES
Irene has been retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical storm names by the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) hurricane committee because of the fatalities and damage it caused in August 2011. Irene will be replaced by Irma. Irene became a hurricane on August 22 and intensi-
fied to a Category 3 on August 24. It gradually weakened after crossing the Bahamas, making landfall in North Carolina on August 27 as a Category 1 hurricane. Irene caused widespread damage across a large portion of the eastern United States as it moved north-northeastward,
Hurricane Irene heads toward North Caroline where it made landfall on August 27, 2011. Photo courtesy of NOAA.
bringing significant effects from the mid-Atlantic through New England. The most severe impact of Irene was catastrophic inland flooding in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont. Irene was directly responsible for 49 deaths.
2012 Storm
Names
Alberto Beryl Chris Debby
Ernesto Florence Gordon Helene
Isaac Joyce Kirk Leslie
Michael Nadine Oscar Patty
Rafael Sandy Tony Valerie William
2012 FORECAST / STORM&SecURITy PROTecTION
13
