Will "Ike" be retired?

[Bart_Comstock]

Maybe Walmart's field operation managers should be assigned this task. Just as in several previous hurricanes, their gas pumps and stores opened up quicker than anywhere else. I got on a line of 200 cars at Sam's Club (Walmart owned I believe) in Texas City the day after the hurricane (Monday morning.) This operation was so efficient, that I was through that line less than 30 minutes. The price was $3.36 per gallon; while surrounding stations had been selling gas two days before for $3.65+.

Speaking from the inside (sorta)... One of the Asset Protection Manager (same as loss prevention or security) they sent down to the Sam's Clubs is a good friend of mine and reported to me that the scene at one of the clubs was at times a bit chaotic due to how frantically desperate some people were for gas or other items and reported that there were several cases of assault and battery and had heard shots fired near by at one location.

Wal-Mart Inc. has their own team of meteorologists and a disaster command center here at the HQ in Bentonville and a fleet of semi's that are dispatched to aid in communications for the stores as well as truck loads of essential items people will need post storm/event. The organization and resources a swell as ability to respond and recover and return to a operational state in the event of a disaster of any kind is remarkable.

 

[Jason Foster]

speaking of retired names.

Ike will certainly be retired....my question is whether Bertha will be? I mean there is a storm that broke some records, but never made landfall. The Bertha name has been around awhile...as has Bonnie...since early storms tend not to be strong enough for retirement.

Another question of mine...which I'm sure I'll research after posting this comment, is what is the most commonly retired letter-named storm. I suspect it has to be in the D-H range. The only other "I" storms to be retired that I can think of is Ivan...well for the Atlantic Basin anyway.

 

[Von Castor]

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.

Why is this question so surprising? You don't really have anything better to do out there under that Amarillo Sky except to reply to these threads right?
I think we better get used to this retirement thing with every storm hitting the US coast north and east of Corpus.
Again, not to diminish the pain and suffering that many have gone through, but in my novice opinion Ike 2008 does not qualify for retirement.
I do agree with you on one thing though Chris. In 2.5 'weeks' the media will have a much more important story to cover. It will be the devastation of the Sooners at the hands of the HORNS! Burnt orange will be the flavor of the week but thats a topic for another thread. Hey Darren, you started this thing but havn't chimed in on your opinion, so........

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Another question of mine...which I'm sure I'll research after posting this comment, is what is the most commonly retired letter-named storm. I suspect it has to be in the D-H range. The only other "I" storms to be retired that I can think of is Ivan...well for the Atlantic Basin anyway.

In the Atlantic there have been several retired Hurricanes that have I names.
Ivan, Iris, Ione, Isadore, Inez, and Isabel are all the I's. More storms with their names that begin with C (9) have been retired. Followed by F (8) and the A and D (both are tied at 7). N,O, S, and W all only have 1, r has 2, and the rest of the letters have between 3 and 5 retired names.

| Letters used | # of retired names. |
| A | 7 |
| B | 3 |
| C | 9 |
| D | 7 |
| E | 3 |
| F | 8 |
| G | 3 |
| H | 5 |
| I | 6*|
| J | 4 |
| K | 3 |
| L | 3 |
| M | 3 |
| N | 1 |
| O | 1 |
| R | 2 |
| S | 1 |
| W | 1 |
​

*not including Ike's possible addition​

 

[Hank Schyma]

Ike WILL be retired! Count on it

 

[Jason Foster]

Thanks man.

In the Atlantic there have been several retired Hurricanes that have I names.
Ivan, Iris, Ione, Isadore, Inez, and Isabel are all the I's. ......

Bart,

I'm such a dumbass...to forget Isabel...which I intercepted in 2003 down in the Morehead City area.

Thanks for the info...I looked for a simple source...but didn't find anything...started to compile the info myself (only putting about half and hour into it). I want to add that info to my hurricane webpage, what was your source for the info?

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Bart,

I'm such a dumbass...to forget Isabel...which I intercepted in 2003 down in the Morehead City area.

Thanks for the info...I looked for a simple source...but didn't find anything...started to compile the info myself (only putting about half and hour into it). I want to add that info to my hurricane webpage, what was your source for the info?

Don't feel bad it happens to the best of us. I got the info from the depths of Wikipedia and the NHC's site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Retired_Atlantic_hurricanes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retired_Atlantic_hurricane_names
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_Atlantic_hurricanes#Characteristics
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/retirednames.shtml
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/retirednames.shtml?text

 

[Chris Nuttall]

Why is this question so surprising? You don't really have anything better to do out there under that Amarillo Sky except to reply to these threads right?
I think we better get used to this retirement thing with every storm hitting the US coast north and east of Corpus.
Again, not to diminish the pain and suffering that many have gone through, but in my novice opinion Ike 2008 does not qualify for retirement.
I do agree with you on one thing though Chris. In 2.5 'weeks' the media will have a much more important story to cover. It will be the devastation of the Sooners at the hands of the HORNS! Burnt orange will be the flavor of the week but thats a topic for another thread. Hey Darren, you started this thing but havn't chimed in on your opinion, so........

[off-topic]I wondered when you would come out from under your hole.[/off-topic]

 

[Matt Sellers]

The name "Ike" will be retired.

There were four straight years where the hurricane which name began with "I" was retired, from 2001-4 (Iris, Isidore, Isabel, Ivan); replacement names are Ingrid, Ike, Ida, and Igor.... with too many more strong/damaging "I" hurricanes, the letter may end up being retired due to a lack of names!

Quick - think of Ike's name replacement. Must be a male English, French, or Spanish name not already on the Atlantic or EPAC lists.

How about "Iago" - one of Shakespeare's most well-known characters - seems fitting for a hurricane name, especially given his description:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iago

 

[John Wetter]

So now we retire hurricane names for storms that are only 'decent' storms but just happen to hit an area that is vulnerable due to poor land use decisions?

The only thing I could think of for Ike would be all the flooding even up to Michigan with it, but still, that isn't unheard of with a hurricane....

 

[Bart_Comstock]

So now we retire hurricane names for storms that are only 'decent' storms but just happen to hit an area that is vulnerable due to poor land use decisions?

The only thing I could think of for Ike would be all the flooding even up to Michigan with it, but still, that isn't unheard of with a hurricane....

That "decent" storm happen to be the 3rd costliest U.S. hurricane ever and is responsible for 143 deaths and 400+ missing persons. Hurricanes are not retired on their intensity alone but rather from the amount of damage and fatalities as well as their psychological impact (I.E. the storm's name becomes household and somewhat historic.) Many hurricanes have been retired for less than what Ike has done damage/ fatalities wise. Although the financial crisis and election quickly stole the media coverage from the storm's aftermath do not be fooled. And even if the area was vulnerable and the land had been developed. If the fact that the development of an area was done poorly should be considered when factoring in if a hurricane's name should be retired should we then not have taken what happened to New Orleans and areas of the gulf because they were not built properly or in a area that was overly vulnerable to damage from a hurricane... which at landfall was not the monster 5 that it was in the gulf.

 

[rdale]

Interesting article in today's NY Times - even referred to the "certain death" prediction that was way off the mark...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us/28ike.html?ref=us

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

How many names are in the "I" category left?
It's not exactly a common used name category.
Probably a good thing that they don't start naming hurricanes from the end of the alphabet first...

 

[Bart_Comstock]

I find it interesting that this storm is being so underplayed in what it did since it wasn't such a tragedy and nightmare like Katrina. It is as if we have gotten to the point where its not hardly note worthy or deserving of retirement unless it trumps the previous worst hurricane. Before the nightmare of Katrina this storm would have been as talked about as Ivan or Charley.

 

[Joe Dorn]

So now we retire hurricane names for storms that are only 'decent' storms but just happen to hit an area that is vulnerable due to poor land use decisions?

The only thing I could think of for Ike would be all the flooding even up to Michigan with it, but still, that isn't unheard of with a hurricane....

John...

Apparently you have never lived in a coastal area subject to tropical weather events. These storms become time reference points if there is significant damage to stick in the human memory.

We moved to the Houston area shortly before Carla (Cat 4 or 5) and left shortly after Alicia (Cat 3) but before Allison (Tropical Storm) and supported evacuees from Ike (Cat 2); Rita (Cat 3) was projected to hit our area 200 miles inland, with 65 mph winds but moved to the east.

The above paragraph makes perfect sense and creates a time line for an upper Texas coastal resident. If Ike is not retired and a second Ike caused significant damage then they would be referred to as Ike I and Ike II or Ike Senior and Ike Junior.

These major storms are historical as well as meteorological events...