How are Hurricanes Named?
Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center and now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The lists featured only women’s names until 1979. After that, men’s and women’s names were alternated. Six lists are used in rotation. Thus, the 2001 lists will be used again in 2007. The only time there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the continued use of the name would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. When this occurs, the name is stricken from the list, and another name is selected to replace it. Sometimes names are changed. Lorenzo replaced Luis, and Michelle replaced Marilyn.
It has only been in the last half of the 20th century that the world devised a system to designate hurricanes. With so many tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones circulating around the world, scientists, media and the public need a way to differentiate between the storms in a simple way. Naming the storms using a uniform system fulfills this need. In the past, different countries had different methods of naming hurricanes. In the West Indies, for example, people named hurricanes for the saint’s day that the hurricane occurred on. In the early 20th century, one Australian weather forecaster named hurricanes for political personages he disliked. During World War II, the US military informally named storms in the Pacific and Atlantic for their wives and girlfriends. The US National Weather Service began using women’s names to designate hurricanes in 1953. For the most part, most countries named storms for women. It wasn’t until 1979 that the US National Weather Service began
The tropical storms from which hurricanes develop used to be named with a latitude / longitude designation that was difficult to remember, difficult to communicate easily and subject to numerous errors. However, in 1953 the National Hurricane Center began giving women’s names to tropical storms originating in the Atlantic Ocean. Once this practice started hurricane names quickly became part of common language and public awareness of hurricanes increased dramatically. In 1979 a new naming method began with men’s and women’s names being alternated. Six different lists of names are now used and these lists are recycled every six years. However, there is one exception – if a storm is especially deadly or costly then that name is retired from the list and a new name is selected to replace it. Here is the list of Atlantic hurricane names that will be used for the next six years.
Lots of people think that hurricanes were always named after women – because of our volatile nature, no doubt – and that only recently did they start alternating between male and female names because of feminist outcry. Not true. Prior to 1950 storms weren’t officially named at all. From 1950 to 1952 they were named simply Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George…not very imaginative, but it sufficed. From 1953 to 1978 someone (my guess a man going through a nasty divorce) decided to use only female names. Finally, in 1979, they started alternating between male and female names. Hurricanes are named alphabetically, years in advance and starting the alphabet over each year. (If you get a Hurricane Wilma, you know you have had a busy storm season!) The Atlantic and the Pacific have separate naming lists.
Hurricanes names are chosen from a list selected by the World Meteorological Organization. The Atlantic is assigned six lists of names, with one list used each year. Every sixth year, the first list begins again. Each name on the list starts with a different letter, for example, the name of the very first hurricane of the season starts with the letter A, the next starts with the letter B, and so on. The letters “Q”, “U”, “X”, “Y” and “Z”, however, are not used. Often when an unusually destructive hurricane hits, that hurricane’s name is retired and never used again. Since 1954, forty names have been retired. In 1996 Hurricane Luis was retired. Is your name among the currently used or retired hurricane names?
