There will be no special ceremony—no speech echoing in a stadiumor arena.

Still, Sandy is now retired. No other Atlantic storm will carrythe name, according to the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA).

The name is now put on the list of 76 other retirees—includingHugo, Andrew, Floyd, Charley and Katrina.

Since storm names are used in alphabetical order (excludingthe letters Q, U, X, Y and Z), NOAA says the name Sara will takeSandy's place. But the name won't have a chance to be used until2018, since NOAA's National Hurricane Center rotates six lists ofnames.

An “S” name may not be used next year anyway–unless a recentforecast is spot on. According to meteorologists at Colorado StateUniversity, the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season will have 18 named storms, nine hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

NOAA says it retires names if a storm “is so deadly or costlythat the future use of the name would be insensitive orconfusing.”

Sandy developed into a Category 3 hurricane in late October lastyear before making landfall in Southern New Jersey as apost-tropical cyclone, which didn't stop it from earning thenickname “superstorm.”

For the sake of ranking the storm, Sandy is grouped with otherhurricanes. According Property Claims Services, Sandy is thethird-costliest hurricane in the U.S., with insured losses of$18.75 billion. Economic damages are much more—as high as $50billion.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew top the list atabout $46.6 billion and $22.9 billion in insured losses,respectively.

Sandy has a chance to climb the list. The storm's estimatedinsured losses are as of January. The industry's catastrophemodelers say insured losses could reach $25 billion, while otherfirms and insurance executives say the total could reach $30billion.

SEE OUR DEDICATEDSUPERSTORM SANDY LANDING PAGE HERE