Helene: the name that marked two hurricanes in the history of the Atlantic.

Hurricane Helene of 2018 was a Category 2 tropical cyclone in the Atlantic that stood out for being one of the few tropical systems to approach Europe, affecting countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom.

It was the eighth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the second major hurricane after the powerful Hurricane Florence in the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season.

Formed from an easterly wave originating from Africa, Helene rapidly intensified to reach category 3 over the warm waters of the Atlantic, but weakened as it approached Europe due to low ocean temperatures and increasing wind shear.

Helene affected Senegal and Cape Verde with floods and material damage, and passed through the Azores as a tropical storm with little destruction. In the Iberian Peninsula, the impacts were limited to strong winds and waves of up to 4 meters, while the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced winds of up to 90 km/h and heavy rains before Helene disappeared over Ireland.

Why is there a coincidence in the names of both hurricanes?

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), based in Geneva, is the entity responsible for naming hurricanes. It uses a strict process to assign names to these phenomena, creating annual lists for the Atlantic and Pacific. The Atlantic list includes 21 names, both masculine and feminine, which are alternated and recycled every 6 years, and you can check the names on the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory website. In the Pacific basin, the system is similar, but with a list of 24 names.

If a storm causes a significant impact in terms of human losses or material damages, any affected country can request that its name be permanently removed from the list.

Each time a new storm forms, the next name on the list is assigned, repeating the cycle once completed. However, if a storm causes a significant impact in terms of human losses or material damage, any affected country can request that its name be permanently removed from the list. This is to avoid confusion between a historically known cyclone and a current one in the Atlantic basin. Notable examples of this are the catastrophic and powerful category 5 hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Irma in 2017. Sometimes names are removed for other reasons, such as cultural or political considerations.

Is there then the possibility that Helene will be removed from the list of names for tropical storms, after being used for two hurricanes, the most recent of which has a high probability of causing serious damage if it reaches, as expected, the catastrophic category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale?