With the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season just a couple weeks away, I thought I would pass along this bit of interesting news for today's blog topic.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week that three names are being permanently retired from the list of Atlantic hurricane names.  Dean, Felix, and Noel will no longer be used to name these fierce storms as three storms bearing these particular names wreaked havoc on parts of Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico during the 2007 season.

Hurricane Felix (2007)

Due to the immense damage that these three storms caused, NOAA voted to remove their names from the list.  The list of tropical storm names is recycled every six years and you can expect the replacements for Dean, Felix, and Noel to show up in 2013 as Dorian, Fernand, and Nestor.  Tropical storms and hurricanes first began being named back in 1953 and since that time, 70 names have been retired.  Not all retired names were strong hurricanes; in fact, some were not even hurricanes at all.  Allison is a retired name and she never made it to hurricane status.  She did, however, dump three feet of rain on parts of Texas!

For more on this story and an in-depth look at 2007's Dean, Felix, and Noel check out this link.  If you have any comments or questions, I would love to hear from you!  My inbox has been empty lately.  Come on people, I know you have burning weather questions that you want answered!  Post below or email me at brettsblog@abc27.com! Have a great Friday and I'll see you over the weekend!