MIAMI (AP) - Irene is being retired from the list of storm names because the 2011 hurricane killed 49 people and caused more than $15 billion in damage.
    
A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the name will be replaced by Irma. Irene was retired Friday from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical storm names by the World Meteorological Organization's hurricane committee.
    
The report says storm names are reused every six years unless retired for causing considerable casualties or damage. Irene is the 76th name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954.
    
Five people were killed in the Dominican Republic after Hurricane Irene stormed through the Caribbean last August. Three died in Haiti. And 41 died in the U.S. when Irene barreled up the Eastern Seaboard.

Before you hit the slopes, check the conditions with Herb Stevens, the Skiing Weatherman.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The scant snowfall this winter will continue to affect Northeast waterways this spring as the feeble snowpack melts away.          

Less runoff means less of a chance of rivers and streams swelling their banks. That's good news for the flood-weary region but bad news for rafting companies that depend on rushing waters. It also could affect reservoir levels.          

Not only was this the fourth-warmest winter on record in the 48 contiguous states, but it was drier than average too. The Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University reports below-average snow cover this winter at tracking stations from Maine to West Virginia.

Climatologists say there is little to no snow on the ground in the Northeast to slowly melt into the spring soil. Though torrential rains could still get the waters raging.