Why are hurricanes given human names? How hurricanes are named Who names hurricanes and storms.

Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas, is called one of the most destructive in US history. It is possible that his name will never again be used by meteorologists so as not to remind people of tragic events. VOA explains how hurricanes get their names.

Why do hurricanes have names?

Unnamed storms (and initially they are given names) and hurricanes would greatly complicate the life of meteorologists, researchers, ship captains, rescuers, and even ordinary people. Names make communication easier, which means they increase security. That is why the World Meteorological Organization has created a special list that is updated every year.

What were hurricanes called before there was a 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 is how the hurricane Pin was named 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 hurricane 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 and others.

When hurricanes call female names and when - for men?

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, the situation has changed: hurricanes began to be given and 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. Texas is currently in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. This is the sixth name on the list, there are still 12 left. But they will probably remain unused.

Can a hurricane "retire"?

Maybe if he got 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.

Why are hurricanes given human names? Here is Kirill, Kirill, damn it, recently trampled across Europe, Katrina in America that year ... Why

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. Names are selected by the World Meteorological Organization according to a certain rule. And the rule is this ─ the name of the first hurricane of the year begins with the first letter English alphabet─ A, the second gets a name starting with the letter B, and so on. The alternation of female and male names is also obligatory. For example, in 1998 the Atlantic hurricanes were named Alex, Bonnie, Charlie, Daniela, and so on.
The custom of naming typhoons and hurricanes by female names arose relatively recently. Previously, they received their names randomly and randomly. Sometimes a hurricane was named after the saint on whose day the disaster occurred, or it was named after the area that suffered the most from it. 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. Known for the original method of naming hurricanes, invented by an Australian meteorologist. He used his official position for professional revenge on individual members of parliament who refused to vote for the allocation of loans for meteorological research, and called typhoons after them.
At first, only female names were used for names, later, when they were not enough, male names were used. The tradition originated in the early 1940s. At first, this was an unofficial terminology used by Air Force and US Navy meteorologists to facilitate the exchange of information about hurricanes found on weather maps - short female names helped to avoid confusion and shortened the text of radio and telegraph transmissions. Subsequently, the assignment of female names to hurricanes entered the system and was extended to other tropical cyclones - to Pacific typhoons, storms 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. Since 1979, men's names have also been assigned to tropical cyclones.

Hurricane Irma continues its destructive path to Florida. Hurricane Jose is gaining strength in the Atlantic. And Hurricane Katya is born in the Gulf of Mexico. Irma, Jose, Katya? How do these energetic forces of nature give hurricanes names?

Hurricanes are named for public safety purposes, said Claire Nullis, spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It has become easier for the media to publish a storm and increase interest in warnings when a storm has a name, according to the WMO.

Why is the hurricane named Irma?

Hurricane Irma gets its name because it follows Harvey on a predetermined list set by the WMO for hurricanes that occur in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the North Atlantic Ocean.

Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive names like Irma in written and colloquial speech faster and less error prone than the older, more cumbersome methods of identifying longitude latitude. These advantages are especially important for the exchange detailed information about a storm between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases and ships at sea.
The use of easy-to-remember names greatly reduces confusion when two or more tropical storms occur at the same time. For example, one hurricane may be slowly moving west in the Gulf of Mexico, while at the same time another hurricane may be moving rapidly north along the Atlantic coast. In the past, confusion and false rumors arose when storm warnings broadcast from radio stations were mistaken for warnings of an entirely different storm hundreds of miles away.

Where do all these names come from, and what will be the next name? You probably already know that hurricane names are in alphabetical order throughout the season, but they are more structured.

The World Meteorological Organization, which is responsible for naming hurricanes and tropical storms, has six lists that they go through. (In other words, they currently use non-expired names that were also used in both 2011 and 2005). They have been using this system since 1953.

List of hurricane names

List of hurricane names, for 2017 and beyond

What are the names of hurricanes

The hurricane names are already planned for six years ahead, including 21 years. But while the names are more or less alphabetical, don't hold your breath for Hurricanes Quinn or Humberto — there aren't any names on the list that start with Q, U, X, Y, or Z because there aren't enough that start with those letters, according to Nullis. .

In the unlikely event that there are more hurricanes in a year than predetermined names, hurricanes in this region of the world are named after Greek letters: alpha, beta, gamma, etc. The storms were called Alpha-Alpha-Alpha several times: in 1972, 1973 and again in 2005, although the last storm to blast Haiti and the Dominican Republic with heavy rain was overshadowed by the devastating effects of Hurricane Wilma.

Hurricane names are removed at the request of a country representative at the annual meetings of a WMO committee called the Regional Association Hurricane Committee. This is done when the storm was so destructive that future use of the hurricane's name is considered unethical, according to Nullis. Katrina, Sandy, and Ike — exceptionally catastrophic Atlantic hurricanes that impacted the US — have been cut from the list (below).

Hurricanes names

Names of hurricanes and typhoons

But the process of naming Atlantic hurricanes has not always been so neat.

Beginning in 1950, storms in the region were named after the Joint Army/Navy phonetic alphabet — Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog — when the convention changed to female names instead, according to Patrick Fitzpatrick, professor of meteorology at the University of Mississippi and author of the book Hurricanes: reference guide» (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2006). According to Nullis, male names were added in 1979 in the interest of gender equality.

Officially, storms are not named after specific people, but that doesn't stop people from getting upset about sharing their name with a massive storm, Nullis said.

She recalled a complaint last year by a man named Matthew who was unhappy about sharing his name with the 2016 storm that wreaked such havoc on Haiti. On another occasion, someone said that the names weren't "tough" enough.

Others have different ideas on how to name hurricanes, including those who propose that they be named after science fiction characters and others who propose their own. proper names Nullis said.

There are more vengeful people who want to stamp their personal grievances on natural disasters.

“We had a lady who asked us to name a hurricane after her ex-husband Nullis said.

As for Irma, this is the first year the name has been used for a hurricane. Irma took the place of Irina, a name that was removed from rotation at the request of the United States in 2012. Whether the names of recent hurricanes Irma or Harvey will be dropped is a decision to be made by the Regional Hurricane Association Committee at the next meeting to be held in France in 2020.

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 northwest Pacific Ocean. 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.

Events

Undoubtedly, everyone paid attention to how simple and, at times, tender names called hurricanes by researchers around the world.

It would seem that all the names are random. Take at least born over Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Earl(you can translate as Hurricane "Count"), which raged last year over the Bahamas, the islands of Puerto Rico and along the East coast of the United States.

Or Tropical Storm Fiona, which, as they say, "walked" shoulder to shoulder next to Hurricane Earl.

However, the system itself, by which hurricanes and storms are given specific names, has a long and rather complicated history.

"What's in a name?!"

As reported in US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), once hurricanes were given the names of saints.

Moreover, the saint was not chosen by chance, but depending on the day on which this or that hurricane formed.

For example, it appeared Hurricane Saint Anna, which arose on July 26, 1825, the day of St. Anne.

You may ask how scientists acted if hurricanes were born, for example, on the same day, but on different years? In this case, the "younger" hurricane was assigned a serial number in addition to the name of the saint.

Eg, Hurricane San Felipe struck Puerto Rico on September 13th, 1876, Saint Philip's day. Another hurricane that hit the same area also started on September 13th. But already in 1928. A later hurricane was named Hurricane San Felipe II.

A little later, the system for naming hurricanes changed, and scientists began to use the location of the hurricane to designate it, that is, the width and longitude.

However, according to NOAA, this method of naming did not catch on due to the fact that it was far from always possible to accurately and unambiguously determine the coordinates of the place of origin of one or another hurricane.

The inconsistent and contradictory radio reports coming in on this topic sometimes required a long and thorough study and screening.

So the hurricane may end up "dying" nameless while scientists calculate its coordinates to give the natural disaster a name using this method!

Therefore, the United States of America abandoned such a system in 1951 in favor of a seemingly very simple and effective alphabetical naming convention proposed by the military.

True, this method used not the usual, but the phonetic alphabet. It was then that they were born Hurricanes Able, Baker and Charlie, whose names had one pattern - the first letters of the hurricanes corresponded to the letters of the English alphabet A, B, C.

However, as it turned out, hurricanes arose more often than new ideas came to the head of scientists, and the number of tornadoes in a fairly short period of time clearly exceeded the number of letters and sounds in English language!

To avoid confusion, forecasters began using names of people in 1953.. Each name had to be approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center. (NOAA's National Hurricane Center).

Initially, all hurricanes were assigned female names. The name of the very first hurricane that was named using this technique is Hurricane Maria.

This destructive natural phenomenon received such a beautiful female name in honor of the heroine of the novel. "Storm", which was written by the American novelist and scholar George Rippey Stewart in 1941.

As told to the magazine "Little secrets of life" (Life "s Little Mysteries) representative of the National Hurricane Center Dennis Feltgen, "in 1979, someone had the wise idea to use male names for hurricanes and since then they have been used along with female"

"You call him like me!"

Nowadays, hurricane names are chosen in Geneva, at the headquarters World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

This specialized intergovernmental agency is responsible for monitoring six weather regions in the world, including the United States of America, which forms the fourth region.

It includes North America, South America and the Caribbean region.

Especially for Atlantic tropical storms, The National Hurricane Center has created six hurricane name lists., which was discussed and approved by the WMO by voting at a special meeting of the international committee.

These lists contain French, Spanish, German and English names, because, according to experts from NOAA, "The elements also strike at other nations, and hurricanes are monitored, studied and recorded in many countries".

These six lists of names are in constant rotation and new lists are regularly approved.

For example, in 2010, a list of names was approved, which, according to forecasts, will be used only in 2016.

Initially, the lists of hurricane names included names from A to Z (for example, among the hurricanes that raged in 1958, you can find such names - Udele, Virgy, Wilna, Xrae, Yurith and Zorna (Udele, Virgy, Wilna, Xrae, Yurith and Zorna)).

According to Feltgen, the letters Q, U, X and Z are not used in the current lists due to the fact that there are simply not enough names that begin with these letters.

However, sometimes changes are also made to the currently used lists. If the storm or hurricane was particularly destructive (for example, as Hurricane Katrina 2005), the WMO determines by special vote whether the name should be used to designate hurricanes in the future.

If one or another name is excluded from the list, it is decided to use another name starting with the same letter of the alphabet. This name is also carefully selected and approved by popular vote.

The names that are used in these lists can be arbitrarily unusual, or, on the contrary, well-known and familiar to everyone.

For example, the names planned for the 2010 hurricanes contained names such as Gaston, Otto, Shary and Virgine (Gaston, Otto, Shary and Virgine).

Do all storms have names? No, only special hurricanes get this honor! Namely, those who the funnel rotates counterclockwise, and the wind speed inside the hurricane is at least 63 kilometers per hour.

Then such a "lucky one" is assigned the next name from the list of names of hurricanes approved for this year.