WMO's hurricane committee retires Irene as Atlantic hurricane name 2012-04-14 00:27:44 GMT+7 (ICT) MIAMI, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) -- The hurricane committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which manages the list of potential names for tropical cyclones to be used every six years for both the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins, has decided to retire the Atlantic name Irene.Irene was a major category three hurricane which formed in August 2011 and affected Caribbean countries before it tore a path of destruction along the U.S. East Coast, killing at least 49 people and causing an estimated $18.7 billion in damage in the affected countries. It was the deadliest storm of last year's Atlantic hurricane season.Because the large number of fatalities and extreme damage caused by Irene, WMO's hurricane committee decided during an annual meeting on Friday to retire the name and replace it with Irma. If the committee had not decided to scrap the name, Irene in the Atlantic could have appeared again as soon as 2017.The only time that there is a change in the list of names 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, the WMO committee removes the offending name from the list and another name is selected to replace it.The lists are re-cycled every six years, i.e., the 2011 list will be used again in 2017.

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WOW stop the presses the U.S aren't going to use the name Irene, so what? How on earth is this world news, they must be extremely hard up over there in the U.S for a story. Wasn't there a litter of kittens born some where in the world which would be actual news.

Actually, I found that quite interesting (sad that I am)

Does this mean that the name Katrina will never be used again?

Actually, I found that quite interesting (sad that I am)

Does this mean that the name Katrina will never be used again?

Irene, Irma, Katrina! Apparently the reason hurricanes are usually named after women, is because they are wild and wet when they come, and they take half your house with them when they leave!

So I guess it's "Goodnight Irene" ? :-)