Most retired letter?

[OuterBanker]

You can tell it's preseason. I am asking frivolous questions.

What letter has been retired most. Recently I would guess I, but in the 90's I would guess F. I would also guess of the most frequently used letters A (exception would be Andrew) would be the least common because the first storm is usually weak. And, was Sandy the first S storm retired? Was Sandy the last letter in the alphabet to be retired?

[djones65]

Have you already forgotten Wilma of '05? So "W" would be the last letter retired I believe.

[OuterBanker]

Was Wilma retired?

[HurricaneBill]

Most retired: A tie between C and I with 9 names each.

Carol (1954)
Connie (1955)
Carla (1961)
Cleo (1964)
Camille (1969)
Celia (1970)
Carmen (1974)
Cesar (1996)
Charley (2004)

Ione (1955)
Inez (1966)
Iris (2001)
Isidore (2002)
Isabel (2003)
Ivan (2004)
Ike (2008)
Igor (2010)
Irene (2011)

[HurricaneBill]

Sandy is the second S name to be retired. The first was Hurricane Stan in 2005.

[lester]

Was Wilma retired?

yea it was retired

[Macrocane]

Was Wilma retired?

Wilma the most powerful hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin, destroying Cancun, Cozumel and several other cities in the Yucatan peninsula becoming the costliest hurricane in Mexican history, and after that striking Florida as a category 3 causing severe damage that made it the 3rd costliest hurricane in USA at that time... yes it was retired.

[CrazyC83]

V is the only letter currently used with no retired names.

If you look back at old seasons, post-reanalysis, I wonder what letters would have been retired if the current system was used then?

[CrazyC83]

Looking back at the 1931-40 decade (for example, last decade to be reanalyzed), the following letters, I think, would be retired:

1931 (13) - F (Belize)
1932 (15) - B (Texas), D (Bahamas), I (Puerto Rico), N (Caymans/Cuba)
1933 (20) - F (Chesapeake-Potomac), H (Cuba/Texas), K (Florida), N (Mexico)
1934 (13) - A (Honduras)
1935 (8) - C (Florida Labor Day)
1936 (17) - None likely
1937 (11) - None likely
1938 (9) - F (New England)
1939 (6) - None likely
1940 (9) - C (Carolinas)

Note: this assumes technology available then is used, and does not account for undiscovered storms that may have existed if satellites existed.

[Hurricane Jed]

Wouldn't it be 1930-1939 decade? I'm sorry I know there was no year 0 but 1930's means thirties and 1940 most definitely does not have the word thirty in it. That's just how I look at it. Anyway the B named storm would be retired for 1930.

[CrazyC83]

Wouldn't it be 1930-1939 decade? I'm sorry I know there was no year 0 but 1930's means thirties and 1940 most definitely does not have the word thirty in it. That's just how I look at it. Anyway the B named storm would be retired for 1930.

You're right in a sense, I was just going by the last 10 years in reanalysis. 1941-49 (the last years unnamed) have not been reanalyzed yet so changes may be coming and letter placement is difficult.

1936 is interesting: it would at least get to R, yet no retired names...

[CrazyC83]

From 1911-30, here is how I think it would have gone:

1911 (6) - None likely
1912 (7) - G (Jamaica)
1913 (6) - None likely
1914 (1) - None likely
1915 (6) - B (Texas), F (Louisiana)

1916 (15) - F (Texas)
1917 (4) - D (Cuba/Florida)
1918 (6) - A (Louisiana)
1919 (5) - B (Florida/Texas)
1920 (5) - None likely

1921 (7) - F (Florida)
1922 (5) - None likely
1923 (9) - None likely
1924 (11) - D (Leewards), J (Cuba)
1925 (4) - None likely

1926 (11) - A (Bahamas), G (Great Miami), J (Cuba/Florida)
1927 (8) - A (Nova Scotia)
1928 (6) - D (Caribbean/Okeechobee)
1929 (5) - B (Bahamas)
1930 (3) - B (Hispaniola)

[Hurricane Jed]

1925. The final tropical storm of the season killed at least 55 people and as many as 73. It also caused pretty significant damage to property and crops. Though only a tropical storm, I'd retire it.

[CrazyC83]

Using those findings and guesses, some interesting things pop up:

* E remains a letter that doesn't get retired much. There has not been an E storm retired since 1985 (Elena), and only three all time (Edna and Eloise the other two). From 1911-1940, assuming reanalysis and all storms discovered were named, NO E storms were retired in that 30-year period.

* 1932 and 1933 each would have had 4 retired names, and in both seasons, the N name (which has only been retired once - Noel) would have seen the dustbin.

* B and F tie for most retirements in that period, with six each. C only gets retired twice and I only once (1932).

* I tried to first pick out the obvious ones that were absolute locks to be retired if named (i.e. 1926 Miami, 1928 Okeechobee, 1935 Labor Day, 1938 New England) then made judgement calls on the rest, looking at damage, fatalities and retirement history (i.e. lower standards for rarer areas/smaller countries, and accounted for the fact countries like Haiti rarely make cases).

* I didn't look at 1941-53 since the reanalysis hasn't taken place there yet. I could look at 1944-53 based on the preliminary findings though. Another thing I could look at: hypothetical list of retired names from 1954-present if all unnamed storms were named in real time using the list for the season.

[HurricaneRyan]

Interesting observations.

You know, C and I both have 9 retired names. I wonder if Chantal or Ingrid will break the tie this season (or keep it a tie).

[southerngale]

I find it interesting that 7 of the 9 retired I storms were in 7 out of 11 years, since 2001.

[Hurricane Jed]

That's because half of the time they failed to name things back in the day because we either lacked satellite and then satellite stunk til the mid 70's.

[TexWx]

My first thought was "C," after reading the title...

[OuterBanker]

Most retired: A tie between C and I with 9 names each.

Carol (1954)
Connie (1955)
Carla (1961)
Cleo (1964)
Camille (1969)
Celia (1970)
Carmen (1974)
Cesar (1996)
Charley (2004)

Ione (1955)
Inez (1966)
Iris (2001)
Isidore (2002)
Isabel (2003)
Ivan (2004)
Ike (2008)
Igor (2010)
Irene (2011)

How interesting. Carol, Connie, Isabel and Irene were all NC storms. Also a toss up. Look like we should avoid both letters.

[OuterBanker]

I think I just made a mistake, I think Ione was also a NC storm. So the I's have it.