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Names are selected by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee. Six lists of names are used in rotation, so the list of this year's names will not be reused until 2016. If a storm had extraordinary impact, its name is retired. Three hurricane names in the Atlantic and one in the eastern North Pacific were retired from the official name rotation because of the deaths and damage they cased in 2008. Gustav, Ike and Paloma in the Atlantic and Alma in the North Pacific will not be used again. The names Hugo, Andrew, Floyd and Isabel also have been retired.
A storm is named when its winds travel counterclockwise and reach 39 mph, tropical storm strength. For more information, visit NOAA’s hurricane naming page.
The 2010 Atlantic hurricane names are:
Alex
Bonnie
Colin
Danielle
Earl
Fiona
Gaston
Hermine
Igor
Julia
Karl
Lisa
Matthew
Nicole
Otto
Paula
Richard
Shary
Tomas
Virginie
Walter