Rita is a retired Atlantic hurricane name. The World Meteorological Organization took it off the lists after the 2005 storm, so no future Atlantic storm will be called Rita. Its place on the list now belongs to Rina, on the 2029 list. Since 2001, three storms have been named Rita; the strongest, in 2005, peaked as a Category 5 hurricane.
Yes. Rita is on NHC’s list of retired Atlantic names because of the 2005 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 R slot, now belongs to Rina, on the 2029 Atlantic list, which is next used in 2029.
Rita formed in the Southern Hemisphere in November 2019 and peaked as a Category 1 cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 980 mb. It did not make landfall. The system was tracked for 7 days.
Cyclone Rita (2019): track and historyRita formed in the Atlantic in September 2005 and peaked as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 895 mb. It made landfall near Port Arthur, United States. The system was tracked for 8 days.
Hurricane Rita (2005): track and historyRita formed in the Southern Hemisphere in February 2001 and peaked as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 986 mb. It did not make landfall. The system was tracked for 5 days.
Tropical Storm Rita (2001): track and history| Storm | Landfall near | Date (UTC) | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rita 2005 | Port Arthur, United States | 2005-09-24 07:40 | 115 mph / 185 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 2005, Rita was the 17th name used in the Atlantic season.
Storms named Rita 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 Cyclone Rita in 2019, in the Southern Hemisphere. It formed on November 22, peaked at 80 mph (130 km/h) and lasted 7 days. It did not make landfall. Before that, the name was used in 2005 and 2001.
Hurricane Rita in 2005 was the strongest, peaking as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 895 mb. It formed in the Atlantic in September and made landfall near Port Arthur, United States. The weakest of the three, in 2001, peaked at 45 mph (75 km/h).