How are the names of hurricanes chosen?

How does the denomination facilitate alerts

Three drills are active in the Atlantic Ocean: Irma, Katia and José, a rare event. Last week, the United States was impacted by Hurricane Harvey and Mexico, and the Pacific side, Mexico's Lídia. In hurricane season - convened by meteorologists between June and November - we always wonder, why names of people to the phenomenon. The answer is simpler than it sounds: the standard facilitates disclosure of alerts. 

In addition to facilitating warnings and warnings to manage the event with the population (evacuation protocols, information on storms, etc.), the adoption of a name for the phenomenon is fundamental to avoid confusion. The official website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States explains that there would be more mistakes and the population could be confused. The most serious consequences, in the case of two simultaneous holes in the same time or region.

How are the names chosen?

The names are currently defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Switzerland, part of the United Nations with 189 member countries. The list has 21 names previously selected from names submitted by regional official entities. The list alternates male and female names in alphabetical order. Every six years, a new list is created. But currently. a group of members of the organization reevaluates and adds new names to replace those that have been "archived."

Names of hurricanes that have caused great tragedies are removed and are never used again, so there is no confusion. So there will not be another Hurricane Katrina, like that of the New Orleans tragedy in 2005.

History of names

Ivan Tannehill's book "Hurricanes" is cited as a reference in the history of hurricane names by NOAA. According to him, in the nineteenth century hurricanes were "baptized" in function of the day of Catholic saints, for example, "Santa Ana" drill, which devastated Puerto Rico on July 28, 1825, and San Felipe I, which reached the same city ​​on September 13, 1876.

The use of women's names is attributed to the Australian meteorologist, Clement Wragge. According to Tannehill, the Australian meteorologist would have come to use, for tropical storms, the names of women she felt angry or disliked.

During World War II, members of the US Navy and US Army began mapping hurricanes and storms in the Pacific Ocean and informally naming women.

As early as 1953, the United States began to officially use women's names in tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1978, NOAA adopted a list of names of both genders for Pacific hurricanes. The following year, in 1979, the male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic.    

Reservation names

If more than 21 tropical cyclones occur during a season, WMO refers to the list of Greek alphabet names: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and so on.