Hurricane Name “Sandy” Officially Retired

Sandy has been retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical cyclone names by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee due the extreme impact it caused in October 2012, NOAA said today.

NOAA stated, “Storm names are reused every six years for both the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins. If a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of the name would be insensitive or confusing, the WMO hurricane committee, which includes personnel from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, may retire the name. Sandy is the 77th name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954. The name will be replaced with “Sara” beginning in 2018.

Preliminary U.S. damage estimates from Sandy are near $50 billion, making Sandy the second-costliest cyclone since Katrina to hit the United States. Bermuda was spared its wrath, however there were at least 147 direct deaths recorded across the Atlantic basin due to Sandy.

#Weather

Category: All