List of retired South Pacific cyclone names

Background

Within the region the credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems, is generally given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge, who named systems between 1887 – 1907. Wragge used names drawn from the letters of the Greek alphabet, Greek and Roman mythology and female names, to describe weather systems over Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic. After the new Australian government had failed to create a federal weather bureau and appoint him director, Wragge started naming cyclones after political figures. This system of naming weather systems subsequently fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, until it was revived in the region, by the New Caledonia Meteorological Office during the 1958–59 cyclone season. During the 1963–64 cyclone season the Australian Bureau of Meteorology started to use female names for tropical cyclones that occurred within the Australian region, before the New Zealand Meteorological Service's Fiji office also started using female names for tropical cyclones within the South Pacific during the 1969–70 cyclone season. During the International Women's Year of 1975 the NZMS decided to incorporate male names into the naming lists for the South Pacific, following a request from the Fiji National Council of Women who considered the practice discrimination. At around the same time the Australian Science Minister ordered that tropical cyclones, within the Australian region should carry both men's and women's names. This was because the minister thought "that both sexes should bear the odium of the devastation caused by cyclones." As a result, male names were added to the lists of names for both basins, ahead of the 1975–76 season.

Later that decade as the dual sex naming of tropical cyclones started in the Northern Hemisphere, the NZMS looked at adding ethnic Pacific names to the naming lists rather than the European names that were currently used. As a result of the many languages and cultures in the Pacific there was a lot of discussion surrounding this matter, with one name "Oni" being dropped as it meant the end of the world in one language. One proposal suggested that cyclones be named from the country nearest to which they formed, however, this was dropped when it was realized that a cyclone might be less destructive in its formative stage than later in its development. Eventually it was decided to throw names from all over the South Pacific into a pot at a training course, where each course member provided a list of names that were short, easily pronounced, culturally acceptable throughout the Pacific and did not contain any idiosyncrasies. These names were then collated, edited for suitability before being cross checked with the group for acceptability. It was intended that the four lists of names should be alphabetical with alternative male and female names while using only ethnic names, however it was not possible to complete the lists using only ethnic names so some European names were added in. As a result, there was a scattering of European names in the final naming lists, which have been used by the Fiji Meteorological Service and NZMS since the 1980–81 season.

The practice of retiring significant names was started during 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in the Northern Atlantic basin, after hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel struck the Northeastern United States and caused a significant amount of damage in the previous year. Initially the names were only designed to be retired for ten years after which they might be reintroduced, however, it was decided at the 1969 Interdepartmental hurricane conference, that any significant hurricane in the future would have its name permanently retired. The first tropical cyclone name to be removed in the South Pacific, was Rosie after it had impacted Vanuatu and New Caledonia during 1971. Several names have been removed from the Pacific naming lists for various other reasons than causing a significant amount of death/destruction, which include being pronounced in a very similar way to other names and political reasons.

Tropical cyclone names retired in the 1970s

During the 1970s, nineteen tropical cyclone names were retired from the list of names, with the 1971–72 season having the most amount of retired tropical cyclone names. Severe Tropical Cyclone Carlotta, was the most intense tropical cyclone, during the decade with an estimated peak pressure of 940 hPa (28 inHg).

Tropical cyclone names retired in the 1980s

During the 1980s twenty-one tropical cyclone names were retired from the naming lists, with both the 1986–87 and 1982–83 season having the most amount of retired tropical cyclone names. The most intense tropical cyclone during the decade was Severe Tropical Cyclone Oscar which had an estimated peak pressure of 920 hPa (27.17 inHg).

Tropical cyclone names retired in the 1990s

During the 1990s twenty-six tropical cyclones names were retired from the naming lists, with the 1997–98 season having the most amount of retired tropical cyclone names. The most intense tropical cyclones during the decade were Severe Tropical Cyclones Ron and Susan which had an estimated peak pressure of 900 hPa (26.58 inHg). Severe Tropical Cyclone Val was the most damaging system, which caused about 7008250000000000000♠250 million (1992 USD) in damage to four different countries during December 1991. The deadliest tropical cyclone was Severe Tropical Cyclone Martin which caused 28 deaths when it affected the Cook Islands in October and November 1997. Despite being retired the name Joni, was later reused during the 2008–09 season.

Tropical cyclone names retired in the 2000s

During the 2000s, 20 names of significant tropical cyclones were retired from the tropical cyclone list of names. Four names were retired after both the 2002–03 and 2004–05 seasons while the 2009–10 season had five names retired. No names were retired from the naming lists, after the 2005–06 and 2008–09 seasons. During the decade, Severe Tropical Cyclone Zoe of 2002–03 became the most intense tropical cyclone to have its name retired having reached an estimated peak pressure of 890 hPa (26.28 inHg). The deadliest tropical cyclone to have its name retired during the decade was Severe Tropical Cyclone Ami which caused 14 deaths when it affected Fiji in January 2003, while the most damaging system was Severe Tropical Cyclone Heta which caused over US$225 million in damage to 7 different nations over the new year of 2003–04.

Tropical cyclone names retired in the 2010s

During the 2010s 15 tropical cyclone names have been retired, because of impacts caused to either Australia or various South Pacific Island Nations including Fiji, Vanuatu and French Polynesia. The most intense tropical cyclone to have its name retired during the decade was Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam, which had an estimated pressure of around 896 hectopascals (26.46 inHg) at its peak intensity. The deadliest tropical cyclone to have its name retired was Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston, which killed 44 people in Fiji in February 2016. The most damaging system during the decade was Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi which caused over US$2.5 billion in damage to Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Australia during January and February 2010.