NOAA Retires Two 2010 Atlantic Cyclone Names

March 17, 2011; 2:39 PM
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Hurricane Igor on Sept. 13, 2010. Igor had the largest gale diameter of any Atlantic hurricane, measuring 920 miles.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday that two tropical cyclone names used during the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season have been retired.

Hurricane names Igor and Tomas will no longer be used in the six-year name rotation due to the damage and destruction both storms caused last year.

In 2016, the next time that particular name list will be used, the names will be replaced with Ian and Tobias.

Hurricane Igor formed Sept. 8 as a tropical depression, eventually becoming a Category 4 hurricane. The storm weakened before it hit Bermuda as a Category 1 storm on Sept. 19.

From there, Igor strengthened again and headed north, coming within 600 miles of the United States. The storm made landfall as a weak hurricane near Cape Race, Newfoundland on Sept. 21.

Igor killed four people and caused about $200 million in damage.

Tomas was the last named system of the season. It formed on Oct. 29 and quickly strengthened into a hurricane, reaching Category 2 status before wind shear weakened it to a tropical storm in the Caribbean. The storm would become a hurricane again before finally weakening into a tropical depression.

The storm passed through the Windward Passage, just west of most of Haiti's coastline, but nonetheless caused heavy rain and wind on Haiti and the Windward Islands, including Barbados.

Tomas killed 69 people directly, but caused many more indirect deaths in Haiti. The heavy rain exacerbated the already-poor sanitation and water quality and worsened the cholera outbreak that is still affecting the earthquake-ravaged nation.

The announcement of the retired names comes on the heels of AccuWeather.com's 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast.

"There will be fewer storms than last year, but a bigger impact on the United States," said AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski.

The forecast was released on AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Long-Range on Tuesday and will be released on AccuWeather.com soon.

"Hurricane season could potentially be more active this year than in years past," said Bradley Mitchell, Chief Commercial Officer of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions. "Using our SkyGuard service is a wise investment to manage risk cost effectively, given the potential for more hurricanes this season."

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