Off-the-wall question about use of the Greek Alphabet

[mitchell]

If we ever have a late season catastrophic hurricane in a year like 2005, would they "retire" Alpha, Beta or whatever letter of the Greek Alphabet had been given to the late season hurricane? My guess is yes..

[Chacor]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I'd assume so - had the subtropical storm been named; the strongest Atlantic storm would be Alpha and not Wilma...

[WindRunner]

There has been much debate over this on the board here. According to the NHC, no, though as of yet they have had no need to. I would assume they might have to consider it, though, if it was bad enough. As for the debate, I remember the people arguing that the Greek alphabet names were just like the tropical depression numbers - we've had TD's with a ton of damage and/or deaths, but the numbers aren't retired.

NHC FAQ page for this (though it is slightly out of date)

[Aslkahuna]

When Greek Letters are used, the letter is followed by the year of occurrence in the official nomenclature hence Alpha is Alpha2005. Therefore if the name were retired it would be the official one and not the letter.

Steve