The name Helene will likely join Charley, Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, and Ian in retirement from the list of storm names as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) begins to assess what has been another active hurricane season.
It also brought catastrophic storm surges and flooding to the Florida Gulf Coast and western North Carolina.
“Helene will certainly be retired,” Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the agency’s National Hurricane Center (NHC), told The Epoch Times.
The decision to retire names is made by the World Meteorological Organization at an annual meeting usually held before hurricane season begins, which NHC representatives attend.
Blake told The Epoch Times that once data collection is complete, the possibility of name retirement for other significantly damaging storms such as Milton and Beryl would be considered. But preliminary data already put Helene well beyond any question of debate.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ends on Nov. 30 and has seen 18 total storms earning a name—meaning that they were organized cyclones with maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph.
Of that total, 11 became hurricanes (with sustained winds of 73 mph or greater), and five of them became major hurricanes (with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater).
NOAA predicted that 17 to 24 named storms would form this hurricane season. The average season sees 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes, according to the agency.
The total of five Gulf Coast landfalls by named hurricanes in 2024 ties 2005 and 2020 for the second most in a single season. An 1886 record still holds, with six Gulf Coast landings.
A sixth storm made landfall in North Carolina, Potential Tropical Cyclone Eight, but it never earned a name.
Blake told The Epoch Times that the storm “just didn’t meet the qualifications” to earn a name and maintained more of its frontal characteristics rather than cyclone characteristics, “but it was still quite impactful.”
The 2024 hurricane season included record-setting events beyond Helene.
Hurricane Beryl was the earliest recorded Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin, passing over the Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula before July 4. It went on to hit the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane and spread its remnants from Louisiana to parts of Canada, producing scores of tornadoes and fatal flooding in the Northeast.
Labor Day weekend was a highlight of the season because there were no storms despite that it was within the climatological peak. There was a three-week gap between tropical cyclones reaching a level of strength and organized convection that warrants a name and a two-week gap between tropical cyclone advisories.
However, 12 named storms formed, seven of which were hurricanes, after Sept. 25—a record number for that period, according to NOAA.
Those post-peak storms included Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
Milton became one of the top three most rapidly strengthening storms ever recorded, with its winds intensifying by about 90 mph in just 24 hours. It falls behind Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Hurricane Felix in 2007. Milton was the fifth-strongest hurricane recorded, according to the NHC.
Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast south of Tampa near Siesta Key as a Category 3 hurricane roughly two weeks after Helene. It brought significant flooding and storm surges to areas of the Gulf Coast. Its outer bands stretched across the state to Miami and Port St. Lucie and produced 46 tornadoes, many of which achieved EF-2 rating or higher. Fatalities linked to these tornadoes were confirmed.
The NHC also recorded one of the smallest hurricanes ever this year. Hurricane Oscar only had a five-to-six-mile radius of hurricane-force winds. It did not affect the U.S.
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season will begin on June 1.
