Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall in Jamaica

Melissa’s name will be up for retirement

From CNN Meteorologist Chris Dolce

This is likely the last time “Melissa” will be used as Atlantic storm name.

Name lists for tropical storms and hurricanes are reused every six years. The exception is if a storm is so deadly or damaging that its name is retired by a World Meteorological Organization committee the following year. Those individual names are then replaced with new ones beginning with the same letter, while the rest of the six-year rotating list remains the same.

Melissa’s rampage through the Caribbean, including a destructive Category 5 landfall in Jamaica, make it a candidate for retirement.

Melissa was first used as a name in 2007. It replaced “Michelle”, which was retired following Category 4 Hurricane Michelle in the 2001 season.

Last year, three hurricane names were retired: Beryl, Helene and Milton.

credit: edition.cnn.com