Hurricane Don finally became extra-tropical. In Meteorology Extra-Tropical is when a tropical system loses all of its tropical characteristics. Basically, they become a non tropical low pressure in simple terms. The next name that will be on the list is Emily.

A joke among us Meteorologists is Emily cannot get its named retired. There have been a lot of destructive hurricanes named Emily that we thought would get the name retired. If a tropical storm or hurricane name is very destructive and if the impacted area requests retirement. The World Meteorological Organization will retire that name and replace it among the six rotating lists of storm names. The lists are reused every 6 years. That is the most likely reason Emily has not been retired. Here are some destructive Emily's that should have retired the name.

Tropical Storm's Emily in 2011 and 2017 did not impact any land so I will not go into details about them. There was also a Hurricane Emily in 1981 but it also stayed out to sea.

Hurricane Emily from 2005. This really should have been the storm to retire the name Emily. I was in college, but me, other students and Meteorologists thought Emily would be retired.

Emily began in the far Atlantic as a tropical storm in middle July we usually do not see development in this region in July. Once Emily got into the Caribbean the storm really intensified. Emily would become a 160 mph category 5 hurricane in the Caribbean. Emily would weaken to a category 4 hurricane at its first Mexico landfall. Still, the hurricane was a 145 mph hurricane when it struck the Yucatan Peninsula. It eventually moved into the Gulf and regained some of its strength back. It made a second Mexico Landfall as a 120-125 mph category 3 hurricane.

In Mexico Emily caused $1.1 Billion dollars worth of damage and 22 deaths. So why was Emily not retired. Well, Emily was over shadowed by Hurricane Stan. Stan was a category 1 hurricane that made landfall in Mexico. However, Stand made landfall in a dense populated area with mountains around it. Stan caused mudslides that killed over 2,000 people. That is probably why Mexico requested the retirement of Stan and not Emily. Still, Emily should have been retired.

Emily 1993
Emily was a destructive hurricane as it got close to the Outer Banks of North Carolina despite never coming ashore. When Emily got close to the outer banks it was a category 3 hurricane which was the storm's peak. Emily's high winds destroyed several beach condo's and homes. Even though Emily only caused $36 million in damages to the outer banks and barrier islands that was a lot of damage.

Emily 1987

This was really the first destructive hurricane Emily. Really this was the only memorable hurricane from a below average season in 1987. Hurricane Emily formed in the far Atlantic and moved into the Caribbean. While in the Caribbean Emily became a category 3 hurricane. Emily made landfall on the Haiti/Dominican Republic boarder at peak intensity. Eventually Emily would make a final landfall in Bermuda as a high end category 1 hurricane

Emily was very destructive in both countries causing several deaths and over $80 million dollars worth of damage mainly in the Dominican Republic. In Bermuda Emily did a lot of damage by high winds and storm surge. Damage in Bermuda was $50 million.

Overall Emily of 1987 caused $130 million dollars worth of damage and several deaths. Many thought the named would be retired due to its severe destruction in The Dominican Republic and Bermuda. However, both countries did not request retirement.

In summary, it seems that Emily cannot get its name retired. Its an old joke upon us Meteorologists. But really the 1987 and 2005 hurricane Emily's should have been what retired this name.

I'm sure it will one day even Florence was a name that recurred quite a bit and then lo and behold the 2019 Hurricane season happened

also let's face it 2005 was a very busy, very active hurricane season (yeah it's hard to find positives from the 2000s decade)

That is true. Florence had been used since 1953. It took 66 years for the name to finally get retired. 2018's Hurricane Florence is what did it. In 2018 Florence brought historic flooding to North Carolina over $25 Billion dollars worth of damage. It was no surprise that Florence was retired in 2019 the following year.