Will "Ike" be retired?

[Chris Nuttall]

Considering the widespread level of damage and significant level Ike achieved as a hurricane, I'm sure the WMO will retire the name. No chance of them running out of names any time soon.

Bingo. It does not really matter how strong Ike was compared to Katrina or Andrew. Now I'm not on the committee at WMO that decides these things, but I think it's a given that a storm that has such a large impact as Ike will likely be retired. I don't think they go through and officially retire the names until after the season is over. I'm really surprised this is even a question.

Think about it. Sure, Ike was nowhere even close to being "up there" in terms of strength. But, there's been a great deal of destruction along the Texas coast from Freeport all the way to Port Arthur. Someone already mentioned that the damage estimates are around $27 billion. Think of the of the secondary impacts that Ike has caused. I'm talking about the current situation regarding gas shortages and gas prices around the country, primarily in the SE U.S.

The WMO does not just look at U.S. impacts. Remember, Ike made a few stops along the way before hitting Texas. The Turks and Caicos Islands took heavy damage. Cuba and Haiti also got hit with 74 deaths in Haiti (according to Wikipedia).

I have no doubt that Ike will be retired. Let's face it, the media have moved on from Ike because: (1) there's a presidential election in 2.5 months, (2) the bomb got dropped on the financial system. Is Ike still a big story? Yes. But, the news is all about the flavor of the week, and right now, it's the economic situation, which has a more direct impact on a much larger number of people, but that's another topic.

Also, consider how much worse Katrina was than Ike, not just in damage and strength, but also psychologically. Katrina happened less than 5 years ago, so people remember it. People have gotten desensitized to it in the news. It's become "old hat" to them.

 

[Von Castor]

Does anyone know the criteria that WMO examines to determine this? Maybe the 4D's would be a good place to start; Diameter, Depth (surge), Dollars, and Deaths.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

According to the NHC website:

The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. If that occurs, then at an annual meeting by the WMO committee (called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it.

The Wikipedia site on tropical cyclone naming also says that basically if a storm has a historical impact and becomes a "household name" it gets retired. This was also mentioned on Wikipedia:

Names of storms may be retired by request of affected countries if they have caused extensive damage. The affected countries then decide on a replacement name of the same gender, and if possible, the same language as the name being retired.

I don't really think there's a set criteria. It's more of a historical significance thing.

 

[Chris Hayes]

Considering Ike caused at least 10 billion in damage and killed over 100 poeple, it will amost certainly be retired. Gustav will probably be retired also, as well as Hanna. Gustav left over 100 dead, and Hanna killed over 500. Damage from Gustav was between 10 and 20 billion.

 

[MClarkson]

Ike will certainly be retired. Last I have heard: ~40 dead, ~15 billion in damage, cat 4/5 storm surge. And thats just the US. Dont forget the Turks and Cuba.

Many weaker storms(at US landfall) doing much less damage have been retired. Frances, Isabel, Lili, Isidore, Allison, Floyd, Bob are just a few recent examples. If a Bob and an Allison get retired, Ike is a lock.

 

[Mike Theiss]

Absolutely !! I am 99.9% sure you will see Hurricane Ike's name retired. No, Ike was no Katrina but Katrina is not the bar for retiring names. Katrina is at the top of the scale. Ike killed too many people and caused too much in damage to not be retired.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

I would say almost 100% that Ike will be retired - remember that it is not just the death toll that is taken into account. (Also remember that more people died in Tropical Storm Stan than in Katrina - Stan was not retired.)

Ike caused an estimated $27 billion in damage in the USA alone – this would make Ike the third costliest U.S. hurricane of all time.

 

[Lou Ruh]

Has there ever been a name retired from a non major hurricane?

Yes. Agnes in 1972 was retired. Although it did reach Category 1 with some damage and fatalities in the SE, most of the damage and fatalities occurred in Pennsylvania pretty much all due to the extensive flooding that occurred. All of Pennsylvania was declared a disaster area due to this (of course, it was an election year).

And, as mentioned earlier, Allison was retired in 2001 but it never reached hurricane status. It did major damage in Texas (but there was also siginificant damage and some fatalities in my home state of Pennsylvania).

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Lets also remember that Ike didn't just kill people in Texas and devastated what little was left in Haiti. Currently Ike's direct death toll is up to 143 (111 direct, 32 indirect). Just because a storm isn't a megalithic event for the us like Katrina doesn't mean names shouldn't be retired... if that were the case there are a plethora of names that would still be available. Also as many others have mentioned, Ike's financial impact is sitting right at $30.5 billion which ranks it over the retired names of Wilma and Charley... Furthermore, not all retired names had American landfalls so despite the fact it only killed a small amount of Americans it could still be retired based entirely on the level of damage caused by him as he crossed the Caribbean. Hurricane Michelle was a category 4 storm that had 24 direct deaths and was retired due to its devastation in Caribbean as it moved across Cuba, the Bahamas, the Caymans, and Jamaica. The storm did graze Florida causing winds of up to 50mph and causing a measly $20,000 in damages to the us (measly in comparison to Ike).

For a complete list of retired storms and their impacts go here....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retired_Atlantic_hurricane_names

 

[Chris Hayes]

I would say almost 100% that Ike will be retired - remember that it is not just the death toll that is taken into account. (Also remember that more people died in Tropical Storm Stan than in Katrina - Stan was not retired.)

Ike caused an estimated $27 billion in damage in the USA alone – this would make Ike the third costliest U.S. hurricane of all time.

I looked it up, and Stan was retired as of 2005. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/retirednames.shtml

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Hi Chrs - I was wrong - many thanks for pointing this out

 

[J Kinkaid]

Last check death toll in Texas was 26

I thought that it was around 50 dead last time I checked and yes the name IKE will be retired

 

[jeremy wilson]

What are the "requirements" or standards a storm must acheive to become retired?

 

[Chris Hayes]

What are the "requirements" or standards a storm must acheive to become retired?

I dont think there are any requirements per say. It just has to be a history making storm in the form of damage or death toll.

 

[Jeff Richardson]

What are the "requirements" or standards a storm must acheive to become retired?

In addition to the hard statistics of monetary damage totals, death tolls, etc., I get the impression that the WMO also takes into account the psychological and sociological effects of a storm and how it could effect the populace in hurricane prone regions regardless of what country that is. When you consider the occurrence of post traumatic stress disorder in many storm victims, it's pretty considerate of the WMO to retire a name that could, if reused, conjure up a nightmare of memories.