Apparently, Lili was NOT retired after all.

[Stormsfury]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

NHC has Lili on the 2008 list...it was retired and now it's not?

[southerngale]

What the HECK??? :o

I thought it had been retired.

[Amanzi]

Me too SG :o I wonder what is up with that?

[Guest]

Yep.........It was taken off the retired list....................Which sorry to say to some but it didnt deserve to be retired anyways...............

[Steve]

What are you talking about, it didn't deserve to be retired? Did Lili not reach Category 4 status? Did she not produce the highest sustained winds ever recorded at a NDBC buoy? Was her pressure not down to 938mb? Did she not exist at least as a TD for 14 days (excluding part of the 25th and 26th when she opened into a tropical wave)? Of those 14 days, 11 days were at named storm status. Did Lili not have 4 landfalls - a somewhat rare event. And she confounded the models though the NOAA will tell you their overall track was actually better than the 10 year average. Lili was an amazing storm. I'm not saying that because of the limited tropical storm conditions I experienced - winds up to the 40's and several inches of rain - but there were 20"+ in the US V.I.

If you further consider that Lili was the first hurricane to make landfall in the US in a 3 year (or so) period, That's enough for me. Tell anyone in South Terrebonne Parish where the levees broke (Theriot, Dulac, Cocodrie) and 4-6 feet of water rolled through the neighborhoods that Lili wasn't more than just a recurring name every 6 years, and the'll call you something else. Now while the total US Damage was under $900MM, considering the impact on other islands and a 350,000 strong evacuation in Cuba, it's probably more like a $2BB overall. No, it wasn't Andrew but it's still worth a retirement.

http://www.la.ngb.army.mil/pao/langnews ... 0Dulac.htm

http://www.tpcg.org/photo_gallery/pictu ... /index.asp

Personally, I think all landfalling hurricanes in the US should be retired. It's not like they're going to run out of names or anything .

Steve

[rainstorm]

lili should not have been retired. it fell apart.

[Steve]

Rainstorm,

That's kind of a lame of a reason. How often is a Cat 4 in the Gulf threatening that kind of havoc? And what's especially interesting about the meteoric rise in pressure was the crossing of waters already cooled by Isidore. The TPC said they'd be studying this storm for years.

JMO.

Steve

[CajunMama]

Rain, try telling that to the people of coastal Louisiana and those in Acadia and Vermilion Parish who received the brunt of the storm that Lili fell apart. Lili still did alot of damage, some of which is still in the process of being repaired. Crops were damaged or ruined, many, many trees uprooted, coastal land lost forever, flooding in many areas, schools damaged, homes damaged or destroyed.

[weatherlover427]

All hurricanes fall apart at one point or another.

[ColdFront77]

Great point, Steve, Kathy and Joshua. I was thinking the exact same thing.

[Anonymous]

IMO, Lili needed to be retired back in 1996 when she wrecked havoc in Cuba and portions of central America. And I think the Lili of 2002 deserved to be retired too, mainly because of the long track of devestation. Sure the devestation wasn't anything catastrophic, but it was bad enough and it was bad enough in several locations. The threat to the Gulf was just unbelieveable, even if her bark was bigger than her bite, I have a feeling the name will still be remembered come 2008. On another note, just look, Cuba got a hard hit from BOTH Lili's! This makes two major hurricanes named Lili, two periods of extensive damage from hurricanes named Lili, two hurricanes named Lili that deserve to be gone from the list. Just my two cents.

[PTrackerLA]

Just for how much Lili scared the living crap out of south Louisiana residetns, she should be retired.

[Stormsfury]

I still feel that Lili was worth "retiring" ... Lili not only produced tremendous flooding in Western Cuba (which the stage was set from Isidore) and Lili, still did quite a bit of damage In Louisiana, even at Cat 2 status ... Multiple landfalls and many different areas of devastation from widely separated locations are telltale in regards to the long-spanning destruction this storm produced and it still being talked about, especially those from Louisiana. (And likely Western Cuba as well, but that Communism thing) ...

Just my 2 C's.

[mf_dolphin]

I agree wholeheartedly SF. Lili should be retired just because of the swath of destruction she caused. She definitely could have been worse but it's was bad enough.