WMO Hurricane Committee retires Gustav, Ike, Paloma, Alma

[Chacor]

That's probably Wikipedia editors pulling something out of their asses. We won't know for sure until an official release.

[somethingfunny]

I'm telling you, they just got tired of the name:

The name Alma has been used for five tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, five tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and one tropical cyclone in the Western Pacific Ocean. It was used in the Atlantic before the formal naming system was instituted.

Atlantic:

1958's Tropical Storm Alma - made landfall in Central America.
1962's Hurricane Alma - struck North Carolina as a tropical storm before heading out to sea.
1966's Hurricane Alma - Second-earliest storm to reach Category 3, killed 90, mostly in Honduras, and did $210 million damage (in 1966 dollars), mostly to Cuba.
1970's Hurricane Alma - caused minor effects on its path, and only one of 3 May hurricanes in the 20th century in the Atlantic.
1974's Tropical Storm Alma - Struck South America and caused 47 indirect deaths from a plane crash.
Eastern Pacific:

1984's Tropical Storm Alma - never affected land
1990's Hurricane Alma - earliest pacific hurricane on record.
1996's Hurricane Alma - Affected Mexico with heavy rainfall, causing at least three deaths.
2002's Hurricane Alma - Early season major hurricane that never affected land
2008's Tropical Storm Alma - first tropical storm to hit Pacific coast of Nicaragua. First tropical storm to be retired in the Eastern Pacific
Western Pacific:

1946's Typhoon Alma - approached Japan.

Look out, Arlene.

The name Frances was used for eight tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. It was even with Arlene as the most-used Atlantic storm name, but fell to second place when Arlene was used for the first storm of the 2005 season.

[Derek Ortt]

I think that for Cubans, Paloma was kind of like Florida's Jeanne in 2004 -- Not especially damaging, but definitely the exclamation point on an extremely traumatizing hurricane season that won't soon be forgotten. Cuba probably requested the retirement.

As for Hanna, remember 1994's Gordon?

I believe Jeanne was retired for the 3000 it killed (seems we now know the death toll required for retirement in Haiti)

[CrazyC83]

I deleted the nonsense on Alma's unusual location being a retirement factor.

[somethingfunny]

I think that for Cubans, Paloma was kind of like Florida's Jeanne in 2004 -- Not especially damaging, but definitely the exclamation point on an extremely traumatizing hurricane season that won't soon be forgotten. Cuba probably requested the retirement.

As for Hanna, remember 1994's Gordon?

I believe Jeanne was retired for the 3000 it killed (seems we now know the death toll required for retirement in Haiti)

I disagree- as CrazyC speculated, if Jeanne hadn't gone on to hit Florida they probably would have let that one go too.

I don't know very much about Haiti, but do you think that many people there, even the authorities, have access to even the most basic methods of communication? Whereas Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicuragua, etc., are all very poor areas, most people at least have access to a radio which disseminates information to the public. So while a Cuban, Dominican, Jamaican, etc., would at least be familiar with the name "Dean", or whichever storm it might be, and remember that storm as being extremely destructive, I don't think Haitians get much warning beyond a general rumor, "someone said another hurricane is coming"...and it's probably about as reliable as an earthquake prediction.

So although Haitians remember the storm of 1994, the two horrible floods in 2004, the flood in November 2007, and the seemingly endless barrage of hurricanes in 2008 that they went through....they probably aren't aware that those disasters were actually named Gordon, an unclassified tropical wave, Jeanne, Noel, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike. So the Haitian government really has no reason to request a retirement.

That's my hypothesis, anyway.

[HurricaneRobert]

Alma is Spanish for Soul.

How do we know it wasn't removed because of that? Names in these basins are supposed to be people names, not things.

[Iune]

Maybe Hanna will be retired, because Haiti still hasn't released their report yet.

[HURAKAN]

Alma is Spanish for Soul.

How do we know it wasn't removed because of that? Names in these basins are supposed to be people names, not things.

It's also a very common female name in Latin America.

[HurricaneBill]

I read that in the WPAC, if an impacted country doesn't request a name be retired, another country can.

I wonder if the same can apply to the Atlantic and EPAC.

[HurricaneBill]

BTW, does anybody know if Fengshen was retired in the WPAC? Or has that committee not met yet?

[CrazyC83]

Maybe Hanna will be retired, because Haiti still hasn't released their report yet.

They could interrupt the session tomorrow to make the late case, since it is still on. I definitely agree that Hanna should also be retired (that would also make it the first time ever that three consecutive names in a season were retired). Also, I do think that other countries should be allowed to make cases as well; that is especially true if the hardest-hit areas were somehow not on the committee at all.

[Iune]

BTW, does anybody know if Fengshen was retired in the WPAC? Or has that committee not met yet?

Nope, Surprisingly they did not.

[Cleveland Kent Evans]

I was actually expecting Isaiah to replace Isaac whenever it gets retired (at the rate we go through "I" storms, soon) to stay with the biblical theme, but I guess the theming is kind of irrelevant. I wonder what the aversion to using Ian is though? Ike, Igor, Isaias, Ida....these are some obscure names.

Isaias may sound obscure to English speakers in the USA, but it's just the Spanish and Portuguese form of Isaiah and wouldn't sound odd in Latin America. I believe it's pronounced "ee-SY-us".

I suppose they ended up with Gonzalo and Isaias because Cuba was considered the main victim of Gustav and Ike and so their weather bureau's suggestions for replacements won out. Plus there weren't many "Spanish" names on that particular list before. Cristobal was the only completely "Spanish" form, though Omar and Rene are very well used in Latin America.

"Something funny" also must be fairly young or he wouldn't think Ike and Ida were "obscure". Most Americans over 50 would be completely familiar with them.

[Chacor]

BTW, does anybody know if Fengshen was retired in the WPAC? Or has that committee not met yet?

Nope, Surprisingly they did not.

The typhoon committee use to retire names from one season prior at each meeting. Fengshen will be up for discussion next meeting I think.

[HurricaneBill]

The typhoon committee use to retire names from one season prior at each meeting. Fengshen will be up for discussion next meeting I think.

I think what threw me off was when they retired Durian shortly after it struck. I think I remember you mentioning they usually don't retire a name that quickly.

[wyq614]

Today Cuban press Granma posted the news of the retirements.

The retirements of Gustav and Ike are requested by the Cuban Institute of Meteorology, and the names Gonzalo and Isaías are actually baptized by Cuba, the latter, if according to Spanish pronunciation, would likely be read as ee-sa-EE-a-s.

The retirement of Paloma was a request of the Cayman Islands and the Islanders put the name Paulette on.

[Cleveland Kent Evans]

The retirement of Paloma was a request of the Cayman Islands and the Islanders put the name Paulette on.

A woman named Paulette Conolly who works for Radio Cayman, and who is herself a native of Cayman Brac, the particular island which was devastated by Paloma, features prominently in several news reports about Paloma and its aftermath. I wonder if somehow the suggestion of Paulette as a replacement for Paloma was thought to honor her.

Here's a news report on Paloma which quotes her. (You can also find mentions of her in reports about Ivan back in 2004).

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/weather/1 ... index.html

[Andrew92]

Bumping this thread.....

I'm starting to get back into hurricane mode slowly but surely, but I had to address what people have said about Alma being retired.

I will say this, if Alma was retired, so should at least have Hanna been.

Some people are suggesting that may Alma was retired due to the unusual location of where it developed. But if that was true, why wasn't Vince retired after 2005? Some people were honest and said they weren't sure.

I am not sure I agree with the decision to retire Alma, but here's my take, after researching this storm per the NHC report and seeing pictures: Alma left some VERY significant flooding in Nicaragua and especially Costa Rica. In fact, Costa Rica was hit harder by this storm than it was by either Cesar in 1996 or Mitch in 1998 (I got this from the NHC report). Additionally, per the NHC report, 1,000 homes were damaged with 150 destroyed in an area near the cities of Guanacaste and Punta Arenas, and 100 roads and bridges were damaged or destroyed.

I have also seen some pictures of what Tropical Storm Alma left in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and the damage was somewhat staggering. No, it was not as bad as storms like Mitch or Fifi as a whole, but some towns were wiped out, especially in Costa Rica.

The damage from Tropical Storm Alma was bad, especially in Costa Rica. However, only two people were directly killed from this storm, so I too am not so sure I agree with the decision. This is especially with Hanna not being retired after what it did to Haiti as a storm of similar intensity.

But to cut it short, I do not think Alma was retired due to its odd location. I think it was retired due to its major effects throughout Costa Rica, and into Nicaragua. I highly encourage you to take a look at some pictures by searching "Tropical Storm Alma 2008 pictures" in Google (remove the quotation marks). You may be surprised at what you see like I was.

-Andrew92