Every year, hurricanes occur. It is a storm system that rotates around an area of low pressure and creates strong winds and heavy rain. Have you ever wondered how they name hurricanes? Read on to learn everything about Hurricanes and their unique names.
Some hurricanes occur and stay active for longer periods. Giving names to hurricanes may help meteorologists, emergency response workers, researchers, ship captains, and people to communicate and recognize particular hurricanes and can be clearly understood.
Hence, the World Meteorological Organization creates a list of names that are arranged in alphabetical order. They are tropical storms and get names in every hurricane season. Hurricane names can be repeated after a gap of six years. However, these names are given to critical storms and permanently withdrawn from use.
How are hurricane names chosen? In the Atlantic Ocean, if tropical storms raise the wind speed 39 miles per hour, then it is called “Tropical Storm Fran.” If the storm increases, a wind speed of 74 miles per hour is known as “Hurricane Fran.” Therefore, hurricanes do not get names, but tropical storms get names and they can be retained if they transform into a hurricane.
Hurricane season starts on June 1st and ends on November 30 every year. Here is the list of hurricane names for every season that is selected by the World Meteorological Organization. Six lists of names for Pacific and Atlantic storms are divided every six years.
Since 1953, the hurricane name lists have been updated by the National Hurricane Center. For the hurricane 2021 season, the names from 2015 are used again. Hence you should not be surprised if some names seem familiar. Those names are not retired from the list, 2021 names can be used again in the 2027 season.
Native Americans called destructive storms hurakons. Spanish explorers borrowed the term and started giving patron saints names to hurricanes on whose feast days the storms arrived. Later, hurricanes were categorized based on their longitude and latitude. In 1950, a formal naming system was developed by the US National Hurricane Center. During that time, storms were called based on a phonetic alphabet (e.g., Able, Baker, Charlie). Some names were used on repeat for each season, to put it in other words, the first hurricane season was named ‘Able’, and the second season was ‘baker’ and so on. In 1953, to avoid the repetitive use of names, the name system was changed and started giving female names. One Australian weatherman is credited for being the first person to give a female name to the storm. In 1979, the name system was changed and included both male and female names.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane names are retired only when the hurricanes are catastrophic. In such a situation, the WMO decides whether the names should be excluded from the future lists, if necessary. Katrina (2005), Joaquin (2015), Irma (2017), Maria (2017), and Florence (2018) are the names that were withdrawn.
Atlantic hurricane names are used from June 2st to November 30.
The new supplemental list
Eastern North Pacific Hurricane Names
Curious about life on Mars? Discover why Earth’s chaos makes Mars exploration a tempting escape…
Discover the Oldest Governments in the World and how these ancient political systems still survive…
Explore the World’s highest vineyard and the incredible story of winemaking at extreme altitudes.
A complete dive into cave exploration, famous spelunkers to must-know caving safety tips, caving gear,…
We all have heard about different dance styles, right? But have you ever heard about…
These jaw-dropping facts about pufferfish reveal one of the ocean's most bizarre creatures.