The World Meteorological Organization has retired the names Beryl, Helene and Milton from the Atlantic basin list and John from the eastern Pacific list after the storms caused deadly destruction in 2024.
The committee's decision, announced by the WMO on 2 April 2025, means the names will not return to the six-year rotating naming lists used to communicate storm warnings. They have been replaced by Brianna, Holly and Miguel in the Atlantic basin and Jake in the eastern Pacific.
The retirements reflect the severity of the storms' impacts. WMO said Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Atlantic Category 5 hurricane on record and caused major damage in the Caribbean, including severe flooding and widespread destruction on Grenada's Carriacou and Petite Martinique islands. The agency said Beryl was responsible for 34 direct fatalities across the region.
Helene and Milton were both tied to major losses in the United States. WMO said Helene made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on 26 September and brought catastrophic flooding to the southern Appalachians. It described Helene as the deadliest hurricane to affect the continental US since Katrina, with more than 248 fatalities. Milton, which made landfall in Florida on 9 October, intensified rapidly and caused 15 deaths and an estimated $34.3 billion in damage.
John was retired from the eastern Pacific list after bringing extreme rainfall and flooding to southern Mexico. WMO said the storm made landfall in Guerrero and later in Michoacán, damaged more than 150,000 homes and killed 29 people. The agency said rainfall totals in Acapulco reached 1,442 millimetres over six days, more than the city's annual average.
WMO said the naming system remains a practical public-safety tool rather than a ceremonial one. Storm names are repeated every six years unless a cyclone is so destructive that retiring the name helps avoid confusion and honours the scale of the impacts it caused.
The committee also used the meeting to update operational guidance for the 2025 hurricane season. Among the changes was an expanded timeline for Potential Tropical Cyclone advisories, giving forecasters more lead time to warn populations when a system is expected to strengthen and strike land.
The 2024 Atlantic season was the ninth straight above-average season, according to the WMO material, while the eastern Pacific season was below average. The retirements underline a broader point the agency has long made: when storms intensify quickly or strike vulnerable communities, a name can become permanently associated with loss, and its removal is part of how the international warning system adapts.
