OT: Who names all these hurricanes?

[The Mighty Wolf]

I'm curious as to how these hurricanes, typhoons and etc get their names.

[-megalithanod]

From what I remember..

Each season, every storm that could turn into a larger storm is named starting with the letter "A", and alternating in Male and female. One year starts with one gender, the next with the other.

not sure exactly how the names are chosen individually, but that is the method

[The Mighty Wolf]

Interesting.

[sculpey]

Have you ever wondered about the system used for naming hurricanes? Where did those names come from, anyway? Will we have to suffer through another "Hurricane Andrew"? The system is not that complicated.
Hurricanes used to be designated by a system of latitude-longitude, which was a great way for meteorologists to track them. However, once the public began receiving storm warnings and trying to keep track of a particular storm path, this got very confusing. A system of monikers was much easier to track and remember.

In 1953, the National Weather Service picked up on the habit of Naval meteorologists of naming the storms after women. Ships were always referred to as female, and were often given women's names. The storms' temperament certainly seemed female enough, shifting directions at a whim on a moment's notice. In 1979, male names were inserted to alternate with the female names.

There are actually six lists of names in use for storms in the Atlantic. These lists rotate, one each year; the list of this year's names will not be reused until 2010. The names get recycled each time the list comes up, with one exception: storms so devastating that reusing the name is inappropriate. In this case, the name is taken off the list and another name is used to replace it; there will not be another Hurricane Andrew, because Andrew has been replace by Alex on the list.

A storm must start as a Tropical Depression and move on to become a Tropical Storm before it is given a name. Once a storm is named, preparations for the possible hurricane should be well under way. Without further ado, here is the list of hurricane names for 2004:

Alex
Bonnie
Charley
Danielle
Earl
Frances
Gaston
Hermine
Ivan
Jeanne
Karl
Lisa
Matthew
Nicole
Otto
Paula
Richard
Shary
Tomas
Virginie
Walter

[EndQuest]

You should see some of the code names for various missions in the military.

[The Mighty Wolf]

Oh please EQ do share if you can.

BTW, thanx Sculp's. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[DARTH POOH]

I can only imagine EQ..
I can't help but say it would feel real silly to have Otto do a lot of damage for some reason.
I mean..Otto???

[The Mighty Wolf]

And about hurricane Bonnie?

[-megalithanod]

Thanks sculpey! I was close! [img]smile.gif[/img]


and now you have, the rest of the story.....

[mr. stinkhead]

They also have a list of retired names because they caused so much damage... but there is a set list that's recycled... the only way to get a name on the list is after one is retired. But it's scientists at NOAA that do that.
From USA Today:
Names of notable hurricanes are retired

Came from this article

Retired Atlantic hurricane names

Name Year Location(s) affected
Agnes 1972 Florida, Northeast USA
Alicia 1983 North Texas
Allison 2001 Texas
Allen 1980 Antilles, Mexico, south Texas
Andrew 1992 Bahamas, south Florida, Louisiana
Anita 1977 Mexico
Audrey 1957 Louisiana, north Texas
Betsy 1965 Bahamas, southeast Florida, southeast Louisiana Beulah 1967 Antilles, Mexico, South Texas
Bob 1991 North Carolina, Northeast USA
Camille 1969 Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama
Carla 1961 Texas
Carmen 1974 Mexico, central Louisiana
Carol* 1954 Northeast USA
Celia 1970 South Texas
Cesar 1996 Central America [Crossed into the Pacific Ocean, becoming Douglas]
Cleo 1964 Lesser Antilles, Haiti, Cuba, southeast Florida
Connie 1955 North Carolina
David 1979 Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola, Florida, Eastern USA
Diana 1990 Mexico
Diane 1955 Mid-Atlantic & Northeast USA
Donna 1960 Bahamas, Florida, Eastern USA
Dora 1964 Northeast Florida
Elena 1985 Mississippi, Alabama, western Florida
Eloise 1975 Antilles, northwest Florida, Alabama
Fabian 2003 Bermuda Details
Flora 1963 Haiti, Cuba
Floyd 1999 Bahamas, North Carolina, mid-Atlantic & Northeast USA Details
Fran 1996 North Carolina, mid-Atlantic USA Details
Frederic 1979 Alabama, Mississippi
Georges 1998 Greater Antilles, Florida Keys, Mississippi, Alabama Details
Gilbert 1988 Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Gloria 1985 North Carolina, Northeast USA Details
Hattie 1961 Belize, Guatemala
Hazel 1954 Antilles, North Carolina, South Carolina
Hilda 1964 Louisiana
Hortense 1996 Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic
Hugo 1989 Antilles, South Carolina
Ione 1955 North Carolina
Inez 1966 Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola, Cuba, Florida Keys, Mexico
Iris 2001 Jamaica, Belize Details
Isabel 2003 North Carolina, Virgina, Maryland, District of Columbia. Details
Isadore 2002 Mexico, Louisiana Details
Janet 1955 Lesser Antilles, Belize, Mexico
Joan 1988 Curacao, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua [Crossed into the Pacific Ocean, becoming Miriam]
Juan 2003 Eastern Canada Details
Keith 2000 Mexico
Klaus 1990 Martinique
Lenny 1999 Antilles
Luis 1995 Barbuda, St. Martin
Marilyn 1995 U.S. Virgin Islands
Michelle 2001 Honduras, Cuba, Florida Keys Details
Mitch 1998 Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Mexico, Florida Details
Opal 1995 Northwest Florida, Alabama
Roxanne 1995 Yucatan Peninsula
*The name "Carol" was used again to denote a hurricane in the mid-Atlantic Ocean in 1965. However, because the name does not appear after that time, it is assumed that the name was retired retrospectively for the damages caused by the 1954 storm of the same name.

Source: Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth.