<P> Since the formal start of naming during the 1947 Atlantic hurricane season, an average of one Atlantic storm name has been retired each year, though many seasons (most recently 2014) did not have any names retired . The deadliest storm to have its name retired was Hurricane Mitch, which caused over 10,000 fatalities when it struck Central America during October 1998, while the costliest storm was Hurricane Katrina, which caused over $108 billion in damage when it struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005 . The most recently retired storm name is Hurricane Otto, which struck Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua in late - November 2016 . </P> <P> By 1947, tropical cyclones developing in the North Atlantic Ocean were named by the United States Army Air Forces in private communications between weather centres and aircraft using the Phonetic alphabet . This practice continued until September 1950, when the names started to be used publicly after three hurricanes (Baker, Dog, Easy) had occurred simultaneously and caused confusion within the media and the public . Over the next 2 years the public use of the phonetic alphabet to name systems continued before at the 1953 Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference it was decided to start using a new list of female names during that season, as a second phonetic alphabet had been developed . During the active but mild 1953 Atlantic hurricane season, the names were readily used in the press with few objections recorded; as a result, the same names were reused during the next year with only one change: Gilda for Gail . Over the next 6 years a new list of names was developed ahead of each season, before in 1960 forecasters developed four alphabetical sets and repeated them every four years . These new sets followed the example of the typhoon names and excluded names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z, and keeping them to female names only . </P> <P> In 1955, it was decided to start retiring the names of significant tropical cyclones for 10 years after which they might be reintroduced, with the names Carol and Edna reintroduced ahead of the 1965 and 1968 hurricane seasons respectively . At the 1969 Interdepartmental hurricane conference the naming lists were revised after it was decided that the names Carol, Edna and Hazel, would be permanently retired because of their importance to the research community . It was also decided that any significant hurricane in the future would also be permanently retired . Ahead of the 1971 Atlantic hurricane season, 10 lists of hurricane names were inaugurated, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . In 1977 it was decided that the World Meteorological Organization's Hurricane Committee (WMO) would control the names used, who subsequently decided that six lists of names would be used in the Atlantic Ocean from 1979 onwards with male names included . Since 1979 the same six lists have been used by the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) to name systems, with names of significant tropical cyclones retired from the lists permanently and replaced with new names as required at the following year's hurricane committee meeting . </P> <P> At present, the name of any tropical cyclone may be retired or withdrawn from the list of names at the request of a member state, if it acquires notoriety for various reasons including the number of deaths, amount of damages or other impacts . The committee subsequently discuss the proposal and either through building consensus or a majority vote decides if the name should be retired or withdrawn . In March 2017, members of the British Caribbean Territories proposed that a third retirement criterion be added: the tropical cyclone must have sustained winds of at least 96 mph (154 km / h). This came in light of the retirement of Tropical Storm Erika in 2015 which caused catastrophic flooding and mudslides in Dominica without producing sustained tropical storm - force winds on the island . No action has been taken on this proposal yet . </P>

When did they start using men's names for hurricanes