2017 Atlantic hurricane season

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active since 2012. It officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30. It was an extremely active and tragic season. With a damage total of at least $282.16 billion (USD), it was the costliest season on record. With over 3,300 deaths, 2017 was the deadliest season since 2005. More than 99.7% of the season's damage was due to Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Nate, was the worst natural disaster in Costa Rican history. Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate had their names retired due to their high damage costs and loss of life. Featuring 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes, the 2017 season is the fifth active season.

Tropical Storm Arlene in April was the first storm of the season that formed on April 19. This was the third consecutive season in which storms form before the official start of the hurricane season. In late August, Hurricane Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005 and the first Category 4 hurricane since Charley in 2004. It also tied the record for the costliest tropical cyclone on record along with the most rainfall dropped by a tropical cyclone in the United States. In early September, Hurricane Irma became the first Category 5 hurricane to impact the northern Leeward Islands on record. It later hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane. Irma is the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean outside of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. In late September, Hurricane Maria became the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the island of Dominica on record; and later it made landfall in Puerto Rico as a high-end Category 4 hurricane. Most of the deaths from this season occurred from Maria, and caused a human crisis in Puerto Rico. In early October, Hurricane Nate became the fastest-moving hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico while also becoming the fourth hurricane of the year to make landfall in the contiguous United States. Slightly over a week later, Hurricane Ophelia became the easternmost major hurricane in the Atlantic basin on record, and later impacted most of Northern Europe as an extratropical cyclone. The season ended with Tropical Storm Rina, which became post-tropical on November 9.

Storm names

The following list of names was used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 2017. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2023 season. This was the same list used in the 2011 season, with the exception of Irma which replaced Irene. Irma was previously used in 1978, and it's only used once as an Atlantic hurricane during this season.

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert

Harvey
Irma
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate

Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

Retirement

On April 11, 2018, the names Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate were retired by the World Meteorological Organization due to the very expensive amount of damage and significant number of deaths they caused. They will not be used again for a future Atlantic hurricane. The names will be replaced with Harold, Idalia, Margot, and Nigel for the 2023 season, respectively.

References 

Atlantic hurricane seasons
2017 in weather