The World Meteorological Organisation’s Hurricane Committee has officially retired the name Melissa from its rotating list of Atlantic tropical cyclone names. The decision, announced during the committee’s meeting in Mexico City this week, comes in response to the catastrophic loss of life and property caused by the storm in October 2025.
The name Molly has been selected as its replacement and will first appear on the 2031 rotation.
Hurricane Melissa carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean, setting new benchmarks for meteorological intensity in the region. At its peak, the storm reached Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds clocked at about 300 km/h.
Despite the ferocity of the storm, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo noted that the death toll, while tragic, was significantly mitigated by modern meteorology.
“Recovery will be long and hard. Despite the force of Melissa, loss of life was in the dozens rather than the thousands. This is testimony to the accuracy of advance forecasts and the use of these early warnings to support early action,” Saulo stated in a video message to the committee.
Michael Brennan, chair of the Hurricane Committee and director of the US National Hurricane Centre, echoed this sentiment, emphasising that the collaboration among international experts saved countless lives by enabling timely mass evacuations and infrastructure shutdowns.
The WMO maintains six rotating lists of names for the Atlantic basin. A name is retired only when a storm is so “deadly or destructive that the future use of its name for a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity”.
Evan Thompson, principal director of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service, expressed gratitude for the committee’s unanimous support in retiring the name. “Jamaica would not have liked to constantly recount the trauma that was visited on us in 2025,” Thompson said, noting that the storm is now “engraved in the collective memory” of the nation.
