Why are storms called by women's names? Who names hurricanes and how?

These days, it's not difficult to name a distant star after yourself, your girlfriend, or your pet hamster. What about a tropical cyclone that can destroy several cities in a day, flood regions and cause billions in losses to a country? Why are destructive hurricanes often called by female names? Over the past 150 years, scientists have assigned their own names to all major cyclones. Often these names were associated with racism, sexism, personal preference or a desire for revenge. It took a long time before a unified system emerged.

The question may arise: why are these names needed at all? In fact, under the concept " cyclone“You can understand cyclones themselves, as well as hurricanes, storms, typhoons, but most people do not notice the difference. The individuality of natural disasters begins to be discussed only after the damage has been caused, and there is a need to clearly identify them.

A few years ago there were rumors Sandy And Katrina. These women's names were used to name two destructive storms that swept across the American continent.
Going back a hundred years, in the notes of meteorologists you can find the names: Xerxes and Hannibal (ancient commanders), Drake and Deakin (Australian politicians), Elina and Mahina (beauties from Tahiti).

Over the past century and a half, names for hurricanes have been taken from the names of places, saints, wives and girlfriends, “beloved” mothers-in-law and politicians. British meteorologist, member of the Royal Geographical Society Clement Wragge was the first to name storms. Describing hurricanes over Australia, New Zealand and the Arctic, Wragge initially took names from Greek and Roman mythology, and then moved on to the beauties that attracted him. It was this succession of storms from the 1890s to 1900s with the names of glamorous Polynesian girls that set the precedent for the current practice of naming female hurricanes.

In those days, storms were usually named by inspiration. In 1903, one officer named a monsoon after Ragge as a friendly gesture. But when public figures protested this practice, Ragge began naming storms after them. Few politicians liked to read in the newspaper that “his” hurricane “caused great destruction” or “wandered aimlessly across the Pacific Ocean.”

After Ragge's death in 1922, his system ceased to be used. Hurricanes began to be named based on their geographic location or the great destruction they caused. Thus, the 1911 Ship Cyclone and the 1938 New England Hurricane appeared. The lack of clarity in such a system often led to confusion and overlap.

During World War II, Ragge's practice resumed. The Air Force and Navy weather services are once again naming tropical cyclones after wives and girlfriends waiting at home. In 1945, the National Weather Bureau introduced a clumsy phonetic alphabetical list of recommended names. Words like
“Able”, “Baker”, “Charlie” and “Dog” (“Able”, “Baker”, “Charlie” and “Dog”) were good for transmitting coded messages and radiograms, but not convenient in civilian life. Moreover, there were only 26 words. And a few years later they returned to names again, having already consolidated this rule at the official level.

One of the reasons why hurricanes are given female names, according to scientists, is the “unpredictability” of natural phenomena. Motivated by this, US feminists began to speak out against the tradition of women's names in storm names.

Different regions of the world use different names that are characteristic of local cultures. In fact, it makes no sense to call the cyclone heading towards India Eugene or Svetlana. Local residents are unlikely to be able to pronounce them correctly. For Atlantic storms, predominantly English names are used, as well as French, German and Russian (Ivan, Katya, Tanya, Olga, Igor), in Central and South America - Spanish, in Oceania - Hawaiian. For each region, lists of names are compiled in advance for each year, starting with the letter "A", regardless of how many names were used in the previous year.

Returning to the original question: Can you name a hurricane? If the name is not very long, yes. It is necessary to contact the regional representative of the World Meteorological Organization. And then, with luck and some persistence, the new name will replace another with the same letter.

A dangerous element brings not only destruction, but also pushes people of art to create
, . Probably many people know the painting “The Ninth Wave” by Aivazovsky, but few people know.

Every year hundreds of tornadoes, typhoons, tornadoes and hurricanes sweep across the planet. And on television or radio, we often come across alarming messages telling us that a natural disaster is raging somewhere on the planet. Reporters always call hurricanes and typhoons by female names. Where did this tradition come from? We will try to figure this out.

Hurricanes are usually given names. This is done so as not to confuse them, especially when several tropical cyclones are active in the same area of the world, so that there are no misunderstandings in weather forecasting, in the issuance of storm alerts and warnings.

Before the first system for naming hurricanes, hurricanes received their names haphazardly and randomly. Sometimes a hurricane was named after the saint on whose day the disaster occurred. For example, Hurricane Santa Anna got its name, which reached the city of Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825, St. Anna. The name could be given to the area that suffered the most from the disaster. Sometimes the name was determined by the very form of development of the hurricane. Thus, for example, hurricane “Pin” No. 4 got its name in 1935, the shape of its trajectory resembled the mentioned object.

The original method of naming hurricanes, invented by Australian meteorologist Clement Wragg, is known: he named typhoons after members of parliament who refused to vote on the allocation of loans for meteorological research.

The names of cyclones became widespread during the Second World War. U.S. Air Force and Navy meteorologists were monitoring typhoons in the northwest Pacific Ocean. To avoid confusion, military meteorologists named typhoons after their wives or mothers-in-law. After the war, the US National Weather Service compiled an alphabetical list of female names. The main idea behind this list was to use names that are short, simple and easy to remember.

By 1950, the first system in hurricane names appeared. 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 became part of the system and was extended to other tropical cyclones - Pacific typhoons, storms of the Indian Ocean, Timor Sea and the north-west coast of Australia.

The naming procedure itself had to be streamlined. Thus, 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 to be short, easy to pronounce and easy to remember. There was a list of 84 female names for typhoons. In 1979, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), together with the US National Weather Service, expanded this list to also include male names.

Since there are several basins where hurricanes form, there are also several lists of names. For Atlantic basin hurricanes there are 6 alphabetical lists, each with 21 names, which are 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.

If a typhoon is particularly destructive, the name assigned to it is removed from the list and replaced by another. So the name KATRINA is forever crossed out from the list of meteorologists.

In the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, names of animals, flowers, trees and even foods are reserved for typhoons: Nakri, Yufung, Kanmuri, Kopu. The Japanese refused to give female names to deadly typhoons because they consider women to be gentle and quiet creatures. And the tropical cyclones of the northern Indian Ocean remain nameless.

Events

Undoubtedly, everyone paid attention to what simple and, at times, gentle names researchers all over the world call hurricanes.

It would seem that all the names are random. Take, for example, the one that originated over the Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Earl(can be translated as Hurricane Graph), 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 assigned specific names has a long and rather complex history.

"What's in my name?!"

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

Moreover, the saint was not chosen randomly, but depending on the day on which a particular hurricane formed.

For example, this is how it appeared Hurricane Santa Ana, which arose on July 26, 1825, St. Anne's Day.

You may ask, what did scientists do if hurricanes formed, for example, on the same day, but in different years? In this case, the “younger” hurricane was assigned a serial number in addition to the name of the saint.

For example, Hurricane San Felipe struck Puerto Rico on September 13, 1876, St. Philip's Day. Another hurricane that struck the same area also originated on September 13th. But already in 1928. A later hurricane was named Hurricane San Felipe II.

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

However, as NOAA reported, this naming method did not catch on due to the fact that it was not always possible to accurately and unambiguously determine the coordinates of the origin of a particular hurricane.

The confusing and contradictory radio reports received on this topic sometimes required lengthy and careful study and sifting.

So the hurricane may end up “dying” nameless while scientists calculate its coordinates in order 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 method proposed by the military.

True, this method used not the usual, but the phonetic alphabet. That's when they were born Hurricanes Able, Baker and Charlie, the names of which had one pattern - the first letters of hurricanes corresponded to the letters of the English alphabet A, B, C.

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

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

Initially, all hurricanes were given female names. The name of the very first hurricane that was named using this method 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 an American novelist and scholar George Rippey Stewart in 1941.

As told to the magazine "Life's Little Mysteries" National Hurricane Center representative Denis Feltgen, "in 1979, someone came up with the wise idea to use male names to refer to hurricanes and since then they have been used along with female ones"

"You call him like me!"

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

This specialized intergovernmental agency is responsible for overseeing 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.

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

These lists contain French, Spanish, German and English names because, according to NOAA, “the elements also strike 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 approved regularly.

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

Initially, lists of hurricane names included names from A to Z (for example, among the hurricanes that raged in 1958 you can find the following names: 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 a storm or hurricane was particularly destructive (for example, Hurricane Katrina 2005), the WMO votes to determine whether the name should continue to be used to refer to hurricanes.

If a particular 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 used in these lists can be as unusual as you like, or, on the contrary, well-known and familiar to everyone.

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

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

Then this “lucky one” is assigned another name from the list of hurricane names approved for this year.

If a typhoon is particularly destructive, the name assigned to it is removed from the list and replaced by another. So the name KATRINA is forever crossed out from the list of meteorologists.

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

Why do hurricanes have names?

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

What were hurricanes called before the naming system came into being?

Hurricanes were often named after saints. For example, the hurricane that reached Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825, St. Anne's Day, was called St. Anne. Sometimes the name was chosen to be the name of the area that suffered the most. And sometimes the name was dictated by the shape of the hurricane. This is how Hurricane Pin got its name 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 Q, U, X, Y and Z - they are not used. The 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.

What to do if all the letters in the alphabet are gone?

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 are hurricanes called by female names, and when by male names?

At first, hurricanes were exclusively “women.” Military meteorologists began assigning female names to natural disasters during World War II. In 1953, this method was officially approved. But since 1978, the situation has changed: hurricanes began to be given male names.

How many names have meteorologists already “used up” this year?

For the Atlantic Coast, the list of hurricane names for 2017 is: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Emily, Franklin, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katya, Lee, Maria, Ophelia, Philip, Rina, Sin, Tammy, Vince and Whitney. Texas is currently experiencing the effects of Hurricane Harvey. This is the sixth name on the list, with 12 more remaining, but they will likely remain unused.

Can a hurricane “retire”?

Maybe if he became too destructive. In this case, using the same name again may be too painful for those affected. For example, there will no longer be a hurricane named Katrina. It was removed from the list of names and will never be used again.