UN Weather Agency Scratches ‘Isis’ From Storm Name List

The United Nations’ weather agency has removed “Isis” from a list of future Pacific hurricane names, deeming it inappropriate given that the extremist Islamic State group has used ISIS as an acronym.

World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Clare Nullis in Geneva said Friday the agency’s regional hurricane committee decided to cut the name off a list of names for the eastern north Pacific next year and replace it with “Ivette.”

The WMO has rotating lists of storm names for various regions that run from A to Z, alternating between male and female. Nullis said names are knocked off the lists “if they’re considered inappropriate, if they cause too much damage and too much death.”

The committee also replaced “Odile,” the name of a hurricane that hit Mexico last year, with “Odalys.”