Hurricanes: The name game
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This image provided by NASA shows the eye of Hurricane Igor taken from the International Space Station Tuesday Sept.14, 2010 by astronaut Douglas Wheelock. At midnight Sept. 15, 2010 Igor was about 1140 miles southeast of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph moving to the west-northwest at 9 mph. ¬ (AP Photo/NASA - Doug Wheelock)
When you think about it, it may seem curious that hurricanes and tropical storms receive names each year, while other kinds of storms such as severe thunderstorms and the fierce tornadoes they sometimes produce do not.
After all, the largest and most intense thunderstorms can spawn dozens of tornadoes that impact cities and communities across multiple states. So why are names reserved only for those storms that reach tropical storm and hurricane status? Why not simply use the date on which a hurricane makes landfall as its name?
In fact, that’s just how hurricanes and tropical storms were labelled in the United States all the way up until the 1950s.
Before 1950, military weather forecasters in the US were responsible for assigning a number, not a name, to tropical storms. For example, the fifth tropical cyclone of the 1932 hurricane season was called Hurricane Number 5. In later years, the military phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie, etc) was used to assign names.
Beginning in 1953, tropical storms were assigned female names. Names were listed in alphabetical order, with the first tropical storm of the year given a name beginning with “A.”
In 1978, both men’s and women’s names were included in the eastern North Pacific storm lists. In 1979, the Atlantic Basin list of names was expanded to include both male and female names. Today, once a tropical disturbance intensifies to tropical storm strength, with wind speeds above 39 mph, the National Hurricane Center gives it a name.
Member nations of the World Meteorological Organization have since revised the list to include names common to English, Spanish, and French speaking peoples. The order of men’s and women’s names alternates every year. For example, in 1995 the list began with Allison. In 1996, it began with Arthur.
There are six lists of tropical cyclone names, 21 names for Atlantic storms and 24 names for eastern North Pacific storms. The lists are used on a rotating basis. For instance, the set for 2010 was also used in 2004.
2011 Atlantic Names
Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert,
Harvey, Irene, Jose,
Katia, Lee,
Maria, Nate,
Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy,
Vince, Whitney.
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Published Jun 15, 2011 at 4:45 pm (Updated Jun 15, 2011 at 4:45 pm)