Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Rita, and the list goes on. But you may have wondered how hurricanes came about their names, well, I know I always have. And here’s the answer to one of the world’s most asked questions.
How Did it Start?
In 1950, a formal practice for storm naming was first developed for the Atlantic Ocean by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. At that time, storms were named alphabetically (e.g., Able, Baker, Charlie), and the names used were the same for each hurricane season; in other words, the first hurricane of a season was always named “Able,” the second “Baker,” and so on.
In 1953, to avoid the repetitive use of names, the system was revised so that storms would be named after female names. By doing this, the National Weather Service was mimicking the habit of Naval meteorologists who named storms after women, much as ships at sea were traditionally named for women.
In 1979, the system was revised again to include both female and male hurricane names.
When Does a Storm Receive a Name?
Tropical storms are given names when they display a rotating circulation pattern and wind speeds of 63 kilometres per hour. A tropical storm develops into a hurricane when wind speeds reach about 120 kilometres per hour.
What are “Hurricane Name Lists?”
Lists of hurricane names have been developed for many of the major ocean basins around the world. Today, there are six lists of hurricane names in use for Atlantic Ocean storms. These lists rotate, one each year. That means the list of this year’s hurricane names will come up again six years from now.
There’s an exception to this practice, however. The names of hurricanes that are particularly damaging are retired for legal and historical reasons. For example, the use of the name Katrina was retired in 2005 following the devastating impact that Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans.
What are the Hurricane Names for 2015?
Atlantic hurricane names for the 2015 season include: Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fred, Grace, Henri, Ida, Joaquin, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor, and Wanda.
Eastern North Pacific hurricane names for the 2015 season include: Andres, Blanca, Carlos, Dolores, Enrique, Felicia, Guillermo, Hilda, Ignacio, Jimena, Kevin, Linda, Marty, Nora, Olaf, Patricia, Rick, Sandra, Terry, Vivian, Waldo, Xina, York, and Zelda.
Hurricanes in other ocean basins around the world, which are called tropical cyclones, are also given names which we will get to in the second part of the series.
In conclusion, hurricanes are given names according to a formal system that is managed by the World Meteorological Organization. Hurricane name lists are recycled after a period of years; in the case of the Atlantic Ocean, the lists are re-used every six years. Hence, the 2015 list will not be use until 2021.