Melissa becomes the 100th retired Atlantic storm name

Experts with the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization announced this week that “Melissa” is officially retired as an Atlantic hurricane name. This is the 100th name to face retirement since the practice began in 1953.

Hurricane Melissa grew into one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever observed as it swirled south of Jamaica in late-October 2025, peaking with maximum sustained winds of 190 mph just before devastating parts of the island nation.

This intensity ties with 1980’s Hurricane Allen as the strongest maximum sustained winds ever observed in an Atlantic hurricane. 

Melissa killed several dozen people and caused more than $2 billion in damages throughout the Caribbean, with most of the damage focused in western Jamaica where the eye came ashore near peak intensity.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is responsible for standardizing official tropical cyclone names across the world’s ocean basins. An annual meeting at the beginning of the year fields name retirement requests from nations that saw widespread casualties or damage from a storm. 

Melissa is the 100th storm name to face retirement since the practice of regularly naming storms began back in 1953. 

The modern naming system for the Atlantic and eastern Pacific began in 1979. Each basin has six lists each consisting of 21 names. One list is used every six years, so the names on deck for 2026 were last used in 2020.

Melissa will be replaced by Molly when last year’s list is reused in 2031.

Out of the original pool of 126 storm names drafted back in 1979, 54 have been retired and 72 remain in use today. 

‘I’ is the letter with the most name retirements at 13. This is mostly due to the fact that most ‘I’ storms develop near the peak of hurricane season when conditions are most favorable for strong hurricanes. The only letter in use without any retirements is ‘V’. 

[Satellite image courtesy of NOAA/CIRA]

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