The Basics of Naming Hurricanes: Who, How and Why Are They Named?

We know Irene all too well, and some of us are eager to see the last of Lee. Jose never showed, and forecasters are keeping a wary eye on Maria. Oh, and remember Floyd?

Hurricanes are like half-remembered relatives at the family reunion, familiar even if we don't know why. It turns out that names are both retired and recycled.

In case you're curious -- or simply want to know what's coming -- here's the basic info about how hurricanes are named. This is excerpted from the National Weather Service.

History

For years, hurricanes that emerged from the West Indies were named for the saint of the day the storm originated. However, hurricanes are named simply to keep track of them easily, and history found hurricanes reappearing year after year. For example, Puerto Rico was hit badly by “San Felipe” in 1876 and then by “San Felipe” (the second) in 1928. The system was changed to avoid such confusion.

Across the world, Australian tradition holds that hurricanes were named for women sometime in the late 19^th century. During World War II this became widespread among forecasters, especially Air Force and Navy meteorologists who plotted the movements of storms over the Pacific Ocean.

In 1953, the United States abandoned a two-year old plan to name storms by a phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie) when a new, international phonetic alphabet was introduced. That year, US weather services began using female names for storms.

The practice of naming hurricanes solely after women came to an end in 1978 when men's and women's names were included in the Eastern North Pacific storm lists. In 1979, male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Retiring a Name

Hurricanes that have a severe impact on lives or the economy go into weather history. The National Hurricane Center monitors major storms.

Whenever a hurricane has had a major impact, any country affected by the storm can request that the name of the hurricane be “retired” by agreement of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Retiring a name means that it cannot be reused for at least 10 years, to facilitate historic references, legal actions, insurance claim activities, etc. and avoid public confusion with another storm of the same name.

Relatively few names are “retired.” Katrina is not among them.

2011 Hurricane Names for the Atlantic

Katia is warming up, and Lee just blew through. Should we reach the end of this list before hurricane season ends in late November, storms take the name of letters in the Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, etc.).

Lists are recycled every six years, so we will hear these names again in 2018.

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney