Each year, as a member of the United Nations and its World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the U.S. suggests names that should be retired from the name lists used for tropical cyclones. Usually storms are removed from the list when they create significant damage or loss of life at landfall. But for 2024, the U.S. is going to request that “Dora” be removed from the list even though the hurricane never made landfall; it didn’t even come within 500 miles of the U.S..
John Bravender, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Honolulu, Hawaii, which also serves as the co-location for the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, said that based on fires that whipped through the state on August 8 while Dora passed well to its south, a request is going to be made at a WMO meeting in March to drop “Dora” from the list used for Eastern Pacific Storms.
While the WMO determines the names lists around the world, in the United States, the National Hurricane Center maintains lists from the WMO for Atlantic Basin and eastern Pacific basin storms. Storms that form near Hawaii come from a list managed by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Only tropical cyclones get official names; winter storms and other storms do not receive names.
“Dora was over 500 miles away from Hawaii and winds from the hurricane didn’t directly impact the state. There was an indirect influence to both the winds and dry air that contributed to the extreme fire weather conditions, though we don’t know to what degree. However, the human aspect is what’s driving this recommendation. Hawaii residents associate Dora with the destructive wildfires and using the name again would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity”, Bravender told us.
Hurricane Dora was the first major hurricane in the central Pacific basin since 2020. Dora moved into the basin on August 6 as a category 4 hurricane and maintained its strength as it passed over 500 miles south of the state at its closest point on August 8. Dora then passed over 300 miles south of Johnston Island on August 10 and crossed the International Date Line into the western Pacific basin on August 12 as a category 2 hurricane. This movement made Dora the second tropical cyclone on record to maintain hurricane strength through the eastern, central, and western Pacific basins, the other being Hurricane John in 1994.
Damaging winds and dry air across Hawaii on August 7-8 were a result of a strong gradient and sinking air between high pressure to the north and Hurricane Dora far to the south. The winds contributed to the destructive, fast-moving wildfires on August 8 that destroyed the town of Lahaina, Maui and killed at least 100 people, making it the deadliest wildfire in US history in more than a century. Multiple fires also burned on the Big Island of Hawaii at the same time, charring the landscapes of the Mauna Kea Beach Resort grounds, including destroying a maintenance facility for their world-famous golf course, and other nearby areas at Kohala Ranch and the town of Waimea.
According to the WMO, if a tropical cyclone is particularly deadly or costly its name is retired and replaced by another one. On the WMO website, they write, “The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. ” When that occurs, at an annual meeting by the WMO Tropical Cyclone Committees the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it. Infamous storm names such as Mangkhut (Philippines, 2018), Irma and Maria (Caribbean, 2017), Haiyan (Philippines, 2013), Sandy (USA, 2012), Katrina (USA, 2005), Mitch (Honduras, 1998) and Tracy (Darwin, 1974) are examples for this.
Not many names have been retired in the Eastern Pacific basin where Dora originated. Hurricane Ismael of 1995, Hurricane Pauline of 1995, and Hurricane Kenna from 2002 are the only three storms in the basin that had their names dropped due to their impacts.
