How Hurricanes Are Named: Explained
- 5 years ago
How Hurricanes Are
Named: Explained Every year, the National Hurricane Center tracks
various tropical storms in the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans. Once these storms reach 39 mph,
they are assigned a name in order to
streamline messaging and communications. These names are short and distinctive in order
to ensure the storms are easily identifiable and
not confused with any other active storms. Originally, storms only received alphabetized
female names. In 1978, it was decided
to include male names as well. Jim Elsner, Florida State
University Professor, to ‘TIME’ The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is
currently responsible for naming hurricanes. For the North Atlantic ocean, The WMO has 6 lists of
21 male and female names, which are used in rotation. The names are then recycled every six
years, meaning names used in 2019, like
Andrea and Barry, will be used again in 2025. If a hurricane is particularly devastating, such as Katrina, Irma and Florence, its name is retired and replaced.
Named: Explained Every year, the National Hurricane Center tracks
various tropical storms in the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans. Once these storms reach 39 mph,
they are assigned a name in order to
streamline messaging and communications. These names are short and distinctive in order
to ensure the storms are easily identifiable and
not confused with any other active storms. Originally, storms only received alphabetized
female names. In 1978, it was decided
to include male names as well. Jim Elsner, Florida State
University Professor, to ‘TIME’ The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is
currently responsible for naming hurricanes. For the North Atlantic ocean, The WMO has 6 lists of
21 male and female names, which are used in rotation. The names are then recycled every six
years, meaning names used in 2019, like
Andrea and Barry, will be used again in 2025. If a hurricane is particularly devastating, such as Katrina, Irma and Florence, its name is retired and replaced.