There will be no special ceremony—no speech echoing in a stadium or arena.
Still, Sandy is now retired. No other Atlantic storm will carry the name, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The name is now put on the list of 76 other retirees—including Hugo, Andrew, Floyd, Charley and Katrina. 
Since storm names are used in alphabetical order (excluding the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z), NOAA says the name Sara will take Sandy's place. But the name won't have a chance to be used until 2018, since NOAA's National Hurricane Center rotates six lists of names.
An “S” name may not be used next year anyway–unless a recent forecast is spot on. According to meteorologists at Colorado State University, 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 costly that the future use of the name would be insensitive or confusing.”
Sandy developed into a Category 3 hurricane in late October last year before making landfall in Southern New Jersey as a post-tropical cyclone, which didn't stop it from earning the nickname “superstorm.”
For the sake of ranking the storm, Sandy is grouped with other hurricanes. According Property Claims Services, Sandy is the third-costliest hurricane in the U.S., with insured losses of $18.75 billion. Economic damages are much more—as high as $50 billion.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew top the list at about $46.6 billion and $22.9 billion in insured losses, respectively.
Sandy has a chance to climb the list. The storm's estimated insured losses are as of January. The industry's catastrophe modelers say insured losses could reach $25 billion, while other firms and insurance executives say the total could reach $30 billion.
SEE OUR DEDICATED SUPERSTORM SANDY LANDING PAGE HERE
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