Why do hurricanes need names?

Names have been given to storms (or tropical cyclones) for at least the last 100 years. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), it is easier for people to remember names than numbers and technical terms.

When reported by the media, this in turn makes it easier to generate interest in major storms and therefore increase how prepared people are for a major storm to hit.

How are hurricane names chosen?

In the beginning, storms were given arbitrary names. An Atlantic storm that ripped the mast off a boat named Antje became known as Antje’s hurricane. Then, in the mid-1900s, people started using female names for storms.

Then, meteorologists decided to introduce a more organised and efficient system, taking names instead from a list arranged alphabetically.

The first storm to occur in a year would be assigned a name beginning with A, and so on. Before the end of the 1900s, forecasters used male names for storms forming in the southern hemisphere.

Since 1953, storms in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic have been named from lists drawn up by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the WMO.

The original list featured only women’s names and in 1979, men’s names were introduced – and now they alternate each year. Six lists are used in rotation, so the list for 2016 will be used again in 2022.

Does this ever change?

Yes – when a storm is deemed to be particularly deadly or costly, its name is removed from the list for reasons of sensitivity. Another name is chosen to replace it at an annual meeting of the WMO Tropical Cyclone Committees. Several names have been retired since the lists were created.

Infamous storm names such as Haiyan (Philippines, 2013), Sandy (USA, 2012), Katrina (USA, 2005), Mitch (Honduras, 1998) and Tracy (Darwin, 1974) are examples of this.

If a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date. For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28th, it would take the name from the previous season’s list of names. If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season’s list of names.

In the event that more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet.

Are there storm names in the UK?

In September last year, the Met Office invited members of the public to submit names for storms for autumn/winter 2015/16 by social media.

The idea behind the pilot project was to help raise awareness of severe weather before it strikes and to ensure greater safety of the public.

Storms are given names when they are deemed to have the potential to cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ wind impacts on the UK and/or Ireland, according to the Met Office.

As with the US system, the new naming system in Britain runs through the alphabet with alternate male and female names.

There are no storms that begin with the less common letters Q, U, X, Y or Z. The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is particularly deadly or costly.

If a storm is the remnants of a tropical storm or hurricane that has moved across the Atlantic, the already established method of referring to it as, for example “Ex-hurricane X”, will continue.

The names for 2015/16 in full were: Abigail, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude, Henry, Imogen, Jake, Katie, Lawrence, Mary, Nigel, Orla, Phil, Rhonda, Steve, Tegan, Vernon, Wendy.

Storm Abigail, which arrived in November 2015, brought winds of up to 90mph and heavy winds to the UK, with parts of northern Scotland hit the hardest.

Over the course of the 2015/16 season 11 storms were named, the last being Storm Katie which hit at the end of March.

For 2016/17, a new list has been compiled using suggestions submitted through social media last year.

This year’s list will begin again at ‘A’ and alternate male/female, starting with a male name.

UK storm names for 2016/2017

Angus, Barbara, Conor, Doris, Ewan, Fleur, Gabriel, Holly, Ivor, Jacqui, Kamil, Louise

source: The Telegraph

Other weather words. Can you match the word with its Hungarian translation?

Key:

1. c.

2. e.

3. a.

4. b.

5. d.