Hurricanes will never be named Harvey, Irma, or Maria again

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Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate were so destructive, no other hurricanes will be given the same names. 

The World Meteorological Organization announced Thursday that it’s retiring the names Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate from its rotation because of 2017’s devastating season. It’s replacing the names with Harold, Idalia, Margot, and Nigel instead.

WMO names each hurricane based on an alphabetical rotation of names, alternating between male and female names. The selection of names for each rotation is usually used every six years, so we won’t see Harold, Idalia, Margot, and Nigel come into use until 2023. If a hurricane is especially fatal and causes significant damage, its name is taken off the rotation and replaced with a different one. Read more…

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