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HelpRe: Atlantic Hurricane 2024 Names
in reply to a message by NelleR
These are the names they've picked out in advance? Interesting that they don't go all the way to Z.
I wonder how they choose them. Is it randomized?
I like the idea of everyone in the storm office headquarters getting to put a name into a hat and that's how they pick them.
I wonder how they choose them. Is it randomized?
I like the idea of everyone in the storm office headquarters getting to put a name into a hat and that's how they pick them.
Replies
There is a group that assigns storm names, and it's not just a random process. They try to use names that reflect the languages spoken in a given hurricane area (so Pacific and Indian Ocean storms have different names than Atlantic/Caribbean storms.)
The names are selected in six-year rotation cycles, but if a named storm does a lot of damage and loss of life, its name is retired and a new name of that letter and sex is plugged into the spot. So for instance, Andrew and Katrina will never be used again.
The naming process started in Australia when a meteorologist started naming storms after politicians he didn't like. You can see the pitfalls there, so some started naming the storms they tracked after their wives and girlfriends, not out of spite, but just because.
They officially decided to alternate male and female names around 1974.
They don't use names beginning with q, u, x, y or z, probably due to the scarcity of names beginning with those letters.
if the names for a given hurricane season are all used but there are more storms, the letters of the Greek alphabet are used. This happened in 2005, after Wilma used up the list. In the Atlantic region, if a season ends with names left over, next season they start at A again for that years list. But other places, next season they start with what would have been the next storm in the last season. So for instance, if the Pacific season ended with say, Beth, next season won't start with Annie, but with Craig.
The names are selected in six-year rotation cycles, but if a named storm does a lot of damage and loss of life, its name is retired and a new name of that letter and sex is plugged into the spot. So for instance, Andrew and Katrina will never be used again.
The naming process started in Australia when a meteorologist started naming storms after politicians he didn't like. You can see the pitfalls there, so some started naming the storms they tracked after their wives and girlfriends, not out of spite, but just because.
They officially decided to alternate male and female names around 1974.
They don't use names beginning with q, u, x, y or z, probably due to the scarcity of names beginning with those letters.
if the names for a given hurricane season are all used but there are more storms, the letters of the Greek alphabet are used. This happened in 2005, after Wilma used up the list. In the Atlantic region, if a season ends with names left over, next season they start at A again for that years list. But other places, next season they start with what would have been the next storm in the last season. So for instance, if the Pacific season ended with say, Beth, next season won't start with Annie, but with Craig.
Wow, you know so much about this! Is it an interest of yours? Are there many storms where you live?
Oh, yes, it's one of my intrests. In a book on Superstorm Sandy (tack superstorm onto any name, even Mary Beth or JoJo and people are going to take it seriously) there was a whole section on hurricane naming history.
I live in southern Delaware and we get a fair number of glancing blows from hurricanes and tropical storms, though rarely a direct hit. We did get a more or less direct hit from Sandy but that was extreme.
I grew up in Oklahoma where the real danger was tornadoes.
The real issue with tornadoes and hurricanes is striking a balance; in the early 20th century, the weather service was not even permitted to use the word tornado in their forecasts for fear of panicking the public. But after the tri-state tornado in 1925 they wised up.
But you have to be careful; too many and too strong warnings about storms that end up not making landfall or making landfall in a different place or at a lower strength can cause people to take future warnings seriously. I suspect this is more of a factor than the names of the storms. It's totally random which storms end up being a threat anyway.
I live in southern Delaware and we get a fair number of glancing blows from hurricanes and tropical storms, though rarely a direct hit. We did get a more or less direct hit from Sandy but that was extreme.
I grew up in Oklahoma where the real danger was tornadoes.
The real issue with tornadoes and hurricanes is striking a balance; in the early 20th century, the weather service was not even permitted to use the word tornado in their forecasts for fear of panicking the public. But after the tri-state tornado in 1925 they wised up.
But you have to be careful; too many and too strong warnings about storms that end up not making landfall or making landfall in a different place or at a lower strength can cause people to take future warnings seriously. I suspect this is more of a factor than the names of the storms. It's totally random which storms end up being a threat anyway.
Six name lists are currently used on a rotating basis. The lists were formed using female names starting in 1955 beginning with Alice. Male names began in 1979 with Bob being the first. Names of particularly deadly or damaging storms are retired. To date, 96 names have been retired. Maybe, names beginning with the letters "Q" "U" "X" "Y" and "Z" aren't used because there are so few names compared to other letters making replacement names difficult to find. They use a supplementary list if there are more than 21 named storms in a year.
Drawing names out of a hat seems like a lot more fun!
Drawing names out of a hat seems like a lot more fun!