Hurricane names – how are they decided?

As Hurricane Matthew batters the Caribbean and continues its trail of destruction towards Cuba and the eastern coast of Florida, some may be wondering how the storm and others like it are given their names.

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.

 

2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Alex	Arlene	Alberto	Andrea	Arthur	Ana
Bonnie	Bret	Beryl	Barry	Bertha	Bill
Colin	Cindy	Chris	Chantal	Cristobal	Claudette
Danielle	Don	Debby	Dorian	Dolly	Danny
Earl	Emily	Ernesto	Erin	Edouard	Elsa
Fiona	Franklin	Florence	Fernand	Fay	Fred
Gaston	Gert	Gordon	Gabrielle	Gonzalo	Grace
Hermine	Harvey	Helene	Humberto	Hanna	Henri
Ian	Irma	Isaac	Imelda	Isaias	Ida
Julia	Jose	Joyce	Jerry	Josephine	Julian
Karl	Katia	Kirk	Karen	Kyle	Kate
Lisa	Lee	Leslie	Lorenzo	Laura	Larry
Matthew	Maria	Michael	Melissa	Marco	Mindy
Nicole	Nate	Nadine	Nestor	Nana	Nicholas
Otto	Ophelia	Oscar	Olga	Omar	Odette
Paula	Philippe	Patty	Pablo	Paulette	Peter
Richard	Rina	Rafael	Rebekah	Rene	Rose
Shary	Sean	Sara	Sebastien	Sally	Sam
Tobias	Tammy	Tony	Tanya	Teddy	Teresa
Virgine	Vince	Valerie	Van	Vicky	Victor
Walter	Whitney	William	Wendy	Wilfred	Wanda

 

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?

1. blizzard	a. forgószél
2. downpour	b. ónos eső
3. whirlwind	c. hóvihar
4. sleet	d. szeles
5. blustery	e. felhőszakadás

Key:

1. c.

2. e.

3. a.

4. b.

5. d.