Hurricane Preparedness Blog

A tropical cyclone is given a name once its winds reach tropical storm strength (39 mph), and then keeps the same name if it reaches hurricane strength. Although we commonly refer to tropical cyclones on a first name basis, many of us don’t know how or why the cyclones are named… 

Storms have been named for centuries, but before 1950, there was no set way of naming storms.  Instead, they were named by a variety of things, like the holiday they ruined, the area they hit, or the objects they destroyed.   Because of this confusing naming process (or lack of one), it was difficult for people to communicate about storms. 

In the 1940s, forecasters began to informally name storms using women’s names, but these names typically weren’t made public.   A need for a naming system was further highlighted when forecasters were dealing with more than one storm at a time: they would have to work extra hard to ensure that the public didn’t confuse two (or more) unnamed storms that were happening at once.

In 1950, forecasters officially started using names from the World War II phonetic alphabet.   Then, in 1953, a list of 23 female, English-language names was introduced as an alternative.   In 1979, male names were included in the naming lists, along with French and Spanish names.

Today, the World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Association IV Committee (WMO) selects the names for storms in both the Atlantic Basin and the eastern Pacific.  Six lists of names are used, and each list is used again six years after it was last used, minus any retired names.  If a hurricane is unusually destructive, it will be retired and then replaced.  The WMO decides which names should be retired, and then selects names to replace the retired ones.  Since 1954, forty storm names have been retired.

Every year in these regions, naming storms starts the same way: the WMO’s list is used in alphabetical order, starting at the top with the “A” storm. For each of the six lists, names have been selected from every letter of the alphabet except for the letters, “Q,” “U,” “X,” “Y,” and “Z.”   This is due to the shortage of names that start with these letters.  If the list is depleted, the WMO turns to the Greek alphabet, and starts naming storms Alpha, Beta, etc. 

This year’s list of names for Atlantic Basin and eastern Pacific storms is as follows:

• Arthur 
• Bertha 
• Christobal
• Dolly
• Edouard
• Fay
• Gustav
• Hanna
• Ike
• Josephine
• Kyle
• Laura
• Marco
• Nana
• Omar
• Paloma
• Rene
• Sally
• Teddy
• Vicky
• Wilfred 

For storms in the central Pacific, Hawaiian names are used and are also selected by the WMO.   In this area, four lists of twelve names each are used, and each storm gets the next name on the list, despite what year it is.   They do not start off at the top of each list each season.  

Nations around the western Pacific name storms a little differently: in 2000, countries around the western Pacific started submitting names for typhoons that include names of flowers, astrological signs, animals, and personal names.  The fourteen countries that are affected each submitted ten names; the 140 names are used one-by-one.  

Sources Used:

Norcross, Bryan.  Hurricane Almanac.  New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, June 2007.   

“Weather.”  3 October 2005.  USA Today.   15 July 2008.