As of this week, there was only one name left on the shelf for the 2005 hurricane season: Wilma. With any luck, it'll stay there until 2011, when this year's names will be put to use again.

Not all of them will be back. Katrina, which inflicted its misery on thousands, won't likely see the light of day again. Anything that nasty will probably join the 62 names -- including Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne from the 2004 season -- whose monickers have been retired, never to be attached to a deadly storm again.

Weather officials say shorter names like Wilma are better for naming storms because they cause less confusion and communication problems than longer names. Thus, you won't find any name on the six-year, rotating list longer than three syllables.

If Katrina is given its due and the name is removed from the list, it will join a distinguished group of notorious storms, including Camille (1969), Fran (1996) and Floyd (1999).

Of course, the 59 other storms in the hurricane retirement home are just as memorable as these three, but they have special places in the collective memories of Tar Heel citizens.

That's the way it is with hurricanes. You don't remember much about them unless they pummeled your state, destroyed your house or killed someone you knew. Does anyone remember Fifi (1974) or Celia (1970)? Probably not. For the record, Fifi killed more than 5,000 people in the Honduras and ranked only behind Katrina and Andrew for the damage it caused. Celia messed with Texas to the tune of $1.6 billion.

Katrina won't be one of those storms, where its legacy is the exclusive province only of those people who fled New Orleans and other devastated parts of the Gulf Coast.

Katrina's effects were widespread, creating a multicultural diaspora that will be remembered by nearly everyone, regardless of where they live.

So, with 47 days left in one of the most active hurricanes seasons ever, let's hope that the last remaining storm name will only be uttered by Fred Flintstone: "Willllll-ma"