On August 23, 2005, a tropical depression formed off the coast of the Bahamas. Six days later, after making landfall in southern Florida as a Category 3 hurricane, Katrina hit Louisiana with winds up to 225 km/h. The hurricane left behind a huge trail of destruction and casualties and left almost half a million people without roofs over their heads.
According to the US National Hurricane Center, Katrina cost the country more than any tropical cyclone that has ever hit the US, and became the third most deadly weather system. The World Meteorological Organization has decided to remove the name of the deadly hurricane from the list of hurricane names forever.
When are hurricane names removed from the list? And how do hurricanes even get their names?
Meteorologist Dan Kotlowski explains how the hurricane naming system works and where the tradition comes from. “During World War II, the US was losing ships in the western Pacific to hurricanes,” says Kottlowski. A lot of research has been done to understand these storms and make people aware of them. During the project, the military started giving them names." Kotlowski explains that these names were originally based on the phonetic alphabet of the military. However, since 1979, the World Meteorological Organization began to use a recurring system of human names to standardize the process.
The system works differently depending on where the storm forms.
Hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin are named based on six lists of 21 names in alphabetical order (letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are omitted). These lists have a six-year rotation, so meteorologists return to the first list every seventh year. If more than 21 hurricanes form during one hurricane season (the last time this happened was in 2005), the Greek alphabet is used to name the remaining storms.
The Eastern Pacific uses the same circular listing system; however, here the lists consist of 24 names (only Q and U are omitted). Non-Atlantic names are used for each letter to better represent the traditions of that region.
An exception is the central-eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Hurricanes in this region are named based on four 12-name lists, and they are named one after the other, starting a new list only when the previous one has come to an end.
To be named, the system must have stable winds of 63 km/h. When the wind speed exceeds 117 km/h, the storm is officially called a hurricane.
Storms with speeds below 62 km/h are called tropical depressions, which are not given names.
As for the hurricane names removed from the lists, Kotlowski explains that the process, while subjective, is ongoing. “Almost every major, destructive hurricane that has ever hit the US has been removed from the list,” he says. These names are being replaced by others.”
Put a mark "Like" on our Facebook page, so as not to miss the most important and interesting news.
From "Saint Philip" to "Harvey", "Irma" and the Russian cyclone "Artemia".
To bookmarks
Reuters photo
In September 2017, powerful hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit the United States. They get their own names, as do dozens of tropical cyclones each year. Such a system helps to quickly remember and recognize a particular weather hazard: short female and male names are used by the media and warning services instead of coordinates.
According to experts, the names help to better prepare for hurricanes. And meteorological organizations have developed lists of names and make sure that people do not get confused in "Katrina", "Sandy" and "Irmah", periodically sending the most famous names to rest.
Ships, saints and sisters
Previously, storms were named arbitrarily. In 1842, one of the devastating Atlantic hurricanes tore off the mast from the ship Antje, which was in the western part of the ocean. The cyclone was named after "Antje" - it was one of the first official names given to hurricanes. After that, they continued to be named mainly after the destroyed ships and cities: for example, the Galveston hurricane that hit the American city of Galveston in 1900.
Sometimes tropical cyclones were named after saints. So in Puerto Rico in the 19th century, hurricanes "Saint Anna" and "Saint Philip" appeared.
However, this method was inconvenient: without a clear system, confusion constantly arose. In the late 19th century, Australian meteorologist Clement Rugg began giving tropical cyclones female names. During World War II, this tradition was picked up by the US military, with US Navy meteorologists naming Pacific hurricanes after wives, girlfriends, and sisters.
Hurricane Sandy area. Reuters photo
In 1953, an international naming system for hurricanes and storms appeared, prepared by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with the support of the US National Hurricane Center. Initially, the list included only short female names, which were awarded alphabetically to cyclones: the first hurricane began with the letter "A" and so on. In 1979, male names were added to the expanded list to avoid "gender bias".
From "Arlene" to "Whittney"
The first list was created for storms that originate in the Atlantic Ocean. A few years later, a similar system appeared in other regions where tropical cyclones form. Each region has its own names. All of them are published on the WMO website.
The most popular list is the Atlantic - hurricanes named after this list hit the United States. In total, the Atlantic Ocean has six lists of 21 names that are in rotation. In 2017, one set of titles is used, in 2018, the second. In 2022, the list of 2013 will be repeated again.
The names also alternate - first in alphabetical order is the feminine, then the masculine. The letters "Q", "U", "X", "Y", and "Z" are omitted. Names are given to storms with a stable wind speed of more than 62 km / h.
In 2017, hurricanes Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irma, Jose and Kate". Until the end of the year, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philip, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whittney may appear. If the list ends within a year and storms continue to form, they are called Greek letters.
In 2014, a study appeared in the American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, according to which female names of hurricanes lead to more destructive consequences than male ones. However, the work was criticized by other scientists.
There is no scientific correlation between the strength and size of a storm and its name.
Susan Buchanyan
National Weather Service employee
Retirement for hurricanes
Some cyclones like Harvey and Irma are remembered more than others for their devastating effects and media coverage. Because of this, using the same names again a few years later can lead to confusion. In this case, the WMO holds a meeting every year at which it discusses which names to "retire".
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Reuters photo
One of the main criteria for a name change is the soreness for the victims during the cyclone. Since the adoption of the system in 1953, 82 names have been removed from the lists. Among them are the famous hurricanes "Katrina" and "Sandy" and "Igor". In 2016, the names "Matthew" and "Otto" were retired from circulation.
Irma is called the strongest hurricane to form in the Atlantic over the past decade. Therefore, next year this name can be replaced by another. And "Irma" will be the tenth hurricane with the letter "I" (Irma) in the Atlantic region, who retired.
Naming system in Russia
In Russia for a long time there was no naming system for cyclones. The hydrometeorological center of Russia used typical names for weather phenomena depending on their geography of origin and characteristics: southern cyclones (Black Sea, Caspian), diving cyclones, Far Eastern storm cyclones, and others.
In October 2015, the organization proposed that they compile their own lists of names for "dangerous weather systems". The Hydrometeorological Center decided to focus on the European model: the names of strong cyclones and anticyclones are also given in Great Britain and Germany. Moreover, if the disaster begins outside of Russia and has already received a name, then this name is not replaced.
Hurricane Matthew killed hundreds of people along the Caribbean coast and in the eastern United States, leaving thousands homeless.
The next hurricanes to hit these areas will be named Nicole and Otto. Who gives them these names?
Why do hurricanes have "human" names?
It turns out that for the last 100 years, hurricanes have been given names. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), hurricanes are given "human" names to spread information about them faster and avoid confusion among meteorologists, researchers, first responders, ship captains, the media and residents of disaster areas.
Why are these names chosen and not others?
About 100 years ago, storms were given arbitrary names. But one day a hurricane raging in the Atlantic Ocean destroyed a ship owned by Antje. That hurricane was nicknamed “Antje”. Then, in the middle of the 20th century, hurricanes began to be given female names.
The meteorologists decided to move to a more organized and efficient system. They systematized the choice of name according to the military phonetic alphabet.
Thus, if the first hurricane happened in the year, then it was called with the letter "A", the second - with the letter "B", and so on. By the end of the 20th century, male names were added to the list.
Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic:
Speaking of Matthew, this is the 13th cyclone that passed through the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic region in 2016. Lists of names in this region are formed five years in advance, so in 2022 the list of 2016 will be valid again. In each year, 21 names are recorded for each letter of the alphabet, except for Q, U, X, Y and Z.
The names of storms that caused severe damage are removed from the list and replaced with other names. For example, such was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or Sandy in 2012. We won't see them on the list anymore.
Hundreds of tornadoes, typhoons, tornadoes and hurricanes roll across the planet every year. And on television or radio, we often come across alarming reports that somewhere on the planet the elements are raging. Reporters always call hurricanes and typhoons by female names. Where did this tradition come from? We'll try to figure this out.
Hurricanes are given names. This is done in order not to confuse them, especially when several tropical cyclones operate in the same area of the world, so that there are no misunderstandings in weather forecasting, in issuing storm alerts and warnings.
Prior to the first naming system for hurricanes, hurricanes were given their names randomly and randomly. Sometimes the hurricane was named after the saint on whose day the disaster occurred. So, for example, the hurricane Santa Anna, which reached the city of Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825, received its name, on St. Anna. The name could be given according to the area that suffered the most from the elements. Sometimes the name was determined by the very form of development of the hurricane. So, for example, the hurricane "Pin" No. 4 got its name in 1935, the shape of the trajectory of which resembled the mentioned object.
An original method of naming hurricanes, invented by Australian meteorologist Clement Rugg, is known: he named typhoons after members of parliament who refused to vote for weather research loans.
The names of cyclones were widely used during the Second World War. US Air Force and Navy meteorologists monitored typhoons in the Pacific Northwest. To avoid confusion, military meteorologists named typhoons after their wives or mother-in-laws. After the war, the US National Weather Service compiled an alphabetical list of female names. The main idea of this list was to use short, simple and easy to remember names.
By 1950, the first system in the names of hurricanes appeared. At first they chose the phonetic army alphabet, and in 1953 they decided to return to FEMALE NAMES. Subsequently, the assignment of female names to hurricanes entered the system and was extended to other tropical cyclones - to Pacific typhoons, storms of the Indian Ocean, the Timor Sea and the northwest coast of Australia.
I had to streamline the naming procedure itself. So, the first hurricane of the year began to be called a female name, starting with the first letter of the alphabet, the second - with the second, etc. The names were chosen short, easy to pronounce and easy to remember. For typhoons, there was a list of 84 female names. In 1979, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in conjunction with the US National Weather Service, expanded this list to include male names as well.
Since there are several basins where hurricanes form, there are also several lists of names. There are 6 alphabetical lists for Atlantic Basin hurricanes, each with 21 names, used for 6 consecutive years and then repeated. If there are more than 21 Atlantic hurricanes in a year, the Greek alphabet will come into play.
In the event that a typhoon is particularly destructive, the name given to it is struck off the list and replaced by another. So the name KATRINA is forever crossed off the list of meteorologists.
In the Pacific Northwest, typhoons have the names of animals, flowers, trees, and even foods: Nakri, Yufung, Kanmuri, Kopu. The Japanese refused to give female names to the deadly typhoons, because they consider women there to be gentle and quiet creatures. And the tropical cyclones of the northern Indian Ocean remain nameless.
Photo: NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center
Hurricane Irma, which hit the Caribbean and Florida, is called the strongest in the Atlantic on record, moreover, it brought terrible destruction and led to dozens of deaths. It is possible that his name will never again be used by meteorologists to name hurricanes in the future, so as not to remind people of the tragic events.
The Voice of America publication talked about how and why hurricanes get their names.
Why do hurricanes have names
Initially, the name is given to a storm, which later weakens or develops into a hurricane. Nameless storms and hurricanes would greatly complicate the lives of meteorologists, researchers, ship captains, rescuers, and just ordinary people. Names make communication easier, which means they increase security. That is why the World Meteorological Organization has created a special list of names for the elements, which is updated every year.
What were hurricanes called before the advent of the naming system
Hurricanes were often named after saints. For example, the hurricane that reached Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825, the day of St. Anne, was called St. Anne. Sometimes the name of the area that suffered the most was chosen as the name. And sometimes the shape of the hurricane dictated the name. That's how the Pin Hurricane got its name in 1935.
How many names are on the list
Every year, 21 names are included in the list - the number of all letters in the alphabet, except for Q, U, X, Y and Z - they are not used. Names are used in order: the first storm of the season is called by a name that begins with A, the second with B, and so on.
But what if all the letters in the alphabet are over?
This happens extremely rarely: usually the number of tropical storms and hurricanes does not exceed 21. If this does happen, the Greek alphabet comes to the rescue. Hurricanes are named Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc.
When are hurricanes called by female names, and when are they called by male names?
At first, the Hurricanes were exclusively "women". Assigning female names to natural disasters began military meteorologists during World War II. In 1953, this method was officially approved. But since 1978, after a lawsuit, the situation has changed: hurricanes began to be given male names.
How many names have already been "used up" by meteorologists this year?
For the Atlantic Coast, the list of hurricane names for 2017 looks like this: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Emily, Franklin, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katya, Lee, Maria, Ophelia, Phillip, Rina, Sin, Tammy, Vince, and Whitney. Florida and Georgia are currently experiencing the effects of Hurricane Irma. Storms Jose and Katya have already formed in the Atlantic and have received their names. That is, 9 more names from the list of 2017 remained unused.
Can a hurricane's name "retire"?
Maybe if the elements were too destructive. In this case, reusing the same name may be too painful for those affected. For example, there will be no more hurricane Katrina. It has been removed from the list of names and will never be used again. There is a possibility that the same fate awaits the names of Harvey and Irma.
