Joan is a retired Atlantic hurricane name. The World Meteorological Organization took it off the lists after the 1988 storm, so no future Atlantic storm will be called Joan. Its place on the list now belongs to Joyce, on the 2030 list. Since 1988, two storms have been named Joan; the strongest, in 1997, peaked as a Category 5 super typhoon.
Yes. Joan is on NHC’s list of retired Atlantic names because of the 1988 storm. It is one of 100 names retired there since 1954 (Tropical Cyclone Naming History and Retired Names).
A name is retired when a storm was so deadly or costly that using the name again would be insensitive; the World Meteorological Organization then picks a new name with the same first letter at its annual meeting.
It won’t be. Retired names are not used again on the Atlantic lists. Its place on the list, the J slot, now belongs to Joyce, on the 2030 Atlantic list, which is next used in 2030.
Joan formed in the West Pacific in October 1997 and peaked as a Category 5 super typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 905 mb. It did not make landfall. The system was tracked for 15 days.
Super Typhoon Joan (1997): track and historyJoan formed in the Atlantic in October 1988 and peaked as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 932 mb. It made 3 landfalls, first near Saint George's, Grenada and last near Bluefields, Nicaragua. The system was tracked for 23 days.
Hurricane Joan (1988): track and history| Storm | Landfall near | Date (UTC) | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joan 1988 | Saint George's, Grenada | 1988-10-15 01:00 | 50 mph / 85 km/h |
| Joan 1988 | Santa Cruz de los Taques, Venezuela | 1988-10-17 06:00 | 65 mph / 100 km/h |
| Joan 1988 | Bluefields, Nicaragua | 1988-10-22 10:00 | 145 mph / 230 km/h |
Names go in alphabetical order, one per storm, as each storm reaches tropical-storm strength (39 mph, 34 knots), so a storm’s place in its season decides its name.
In 1988, Joan was the 10th name used in the Atlantic season.
Storms named Joan appear in more than one ocean in our archive:
Each ocean region keeps its own name lists, drawn up by its own WMO regional committee (Tropical cyclone naming), so the same name can be given to unrelated storms in different oceans.
The most recent was Super Typhoon Joan in 1997, in the West Pacific. It formed on October 11, peaked at 185 mph (295 km/h) and lasted 15 days. It did not make landfall. Before that, the name was used in 1988.
Super Typhoon Joan in 1997 was the strongest, peaking as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 905 mb. It formed in the West Pacific in October. The weakest of the two, in 1988, peaked at 145 mph (230 km/h).