If there was any ever doubt that a hurricane without the word major in front of it could not have major impacts, Ike certainly forever changed that. The Saffir Simpson Hurricane Scale became used by the NHC as the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. In the next few years we'll have something new just to deal with surge.

It's kind of hard to believe sometimes that we have gone about eight years since the last major hurricane landfall. Wilma was the last in 2005. But of course that is in terms of wind. Two of the top three costliest U.S. hurricanes have come in the past eight years. Sandy, which was part hurricane and part something else up to near the point of landfall, and Ike. Neither had the word major in front of it.