Hurricane names. Rules for naming hurricanes. The most destructive hurricanes in history. Who names hurricanes and how?

Natural elements are not subject to human control. And when they come alarm messages from one part or another globe about a tornado, typhoon, hurricane, and we hear beautiful names that have nothing to do with the nature of the origin of the natural disaster. Have you ever wondered why hurricanes are called female names? This tradition has a rationale that we are about to find out today.

Arbitrary naming of hurricanes

To avoid informational confusion about hurricanes (which can occur simultaneously in different parts planets), it was customary to call them not by the serial number hurricane 544, hurricane 545, and so on, but they were called by names.

The earliest names came from the location of the disaster, or from special dates or events when it happened. For example, in July 1825, people first started talking about Hurricane Santa Anna, which was named after the saint in Puerto Rico. It was on that day when the raging anticyclone broke out that the saint was honored in the city, it was her holiday, her calendar day.

The hurricane was christened with a woman's name. Do you think that it was then that the countdown began with this particular coordinate system? From that period of time, a tradition began to arbitrarily give names to tornadoes, typhoons and hurricanes, without a clear system or affiliation with anything.

Interesting facts about typhoon naming

An interesting fact in the name of the element: at that time there was a hurricane, which was very similar in shape to a pin. This is where his name came from. Thus, several similar pin natural disasters received their name, with serial numbers assigned in addition.

Another interesting method that an Australian meteorologist developed: he named hurricanes after politicians who voted against funding for meteorological research.

There is a peculiarity in the nature of the manifestations of these natural disasters. Or more precisely: they have their own pattern. Most often, tropical typhoons occur in the autumn, when there is a difference temperature regime between water and air. And also in the summer, when the ocean temperature is highest. In winter and spring they hardly form, or are extremely rare.

Why are hurricanes in America called by women's names?

Perhaps the first typhoon naming system is hidden here. beautiful names, belonging to the fair half of humanity. Military personnel in the United States who served in meteorological units made it a tradition to name the uncontrollable elements after the names of their spouses and their female relatives. During this period, a list of names was first compiled that were assigned to tornadoes in alphabetical order. Names with easy to remember pronunciation were chosen. When the list ended, it began again.

This is a simple story about why hurricanes are given female names. She formed the basis new system, which began to be used not only in the USA, but also in many other countries.

The emergence of systematization of tornado names

Everyone knows that the continents of Northern and South America More than the rest of the world, it suffers from floods, typhoons and tornadoes. There are not even a dozen American films dedicated to this natural phenomenon.

Since 1953, thanks to the idea of ​​American employees, a procedure for naming the uncontrollable elements has emerged. Remembering their women, perhaps in their honor or as a joke, but nevertheless, this was the reason why hurricanes are given female names. The list, which was compiled of 84 names, was used in its entirety for a year. After all, about 120 air cyclones form on our planet every year.

The first month of the year corresponds to names starting with the first letter of the alphabet, the second - to the second, and so on. The year 1979 marked a new stage in the tornado naming system. The list of female names was supplemented with male ones. It is worth noting that several tropical storms can form in one water basin at once, which means that there will also be several names. For example, for the Atlantic Ocean there are 6 alphabetical lists, each containing twenty-one names. If it happens that there are more than twenty-one hurricanes this year, then the subsequent names of the elements will be in the Greek alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Delta, etc.).

When are male names used?

As we have already found out, several tornadoes can form simultaneously in one area of ​​a water basin.

But why do hurricanes have female and male names? After all, it would seem that everything is simple - just add other simple but sonorous names of the fair sex to the list. The fact is that the lists are compiled by the Regional Association's Hurricane Committee, which has concluded that gender is not an ethical basis for naming hurricanes. Therefore, since 1979, not only women's, but also men's names have become part of the list of future hurricanes.

Eastern commitment to naming

The Japanese don't understand why hurricanes are called by women's names. According to them, a woman is a gentle and fragile creature. And by their nature they are unable to bear catastrophic disasters. Therefore, tornadoes that occur in the northern or western part of the Pacific Ocean will never be named after people. Despite the tradition of naming storms, they have names inanimate objects: plants, trees, products, there are also names of animals.

Who names tornadoes?

As previously noted, when creating a list of future tornadoes, attention is paid to simple and sonorous names. This criterion is important. Since when exchanging information about a storm between stations and naval bases in bad weather conditions, cumbersome and complex names are inappropriate. Moreover, in written and oral speech Words that are easy to pronounce are less prone to mistakes and confusion. After all, several tornadoes can occur simultaneously, moving in different directions along one coast.

This is why hurricanes are called with feminine names that are simple and easy to pronounce.

There is which is responsible for naming tornadoes, typhoons, tornadoes, hurricanes and tropical storms. They have been using the existing system since 1953. Using names from past lists that have not previously been used, new lists are formed each year. For example, names that were not used in 2005 move to 2011, and those remaining from 2011 to 2017. Thus, lists of future typhoons are generated for every 6 years in advance.

By 2017, a new list has been formed, consisting of 6 lists of names of hurricanes that await our planet. This list is planned until 2022. Each list begins with the letter A and proceeds alphabetically. Each list contains twenty-one names.

Names starting with Q, U, X, Y, Z cannot become future ones. Since there are few of them and they are difficult to hear.

However, some tornadoes are so destructive in their power that his name is removed from the list once and for all. An example is Hurricane Katrina, which swept through the southeastern shores North America and Caribbean countries. This is the most destructive typhoon in US history, the consequences of which were simply catastrophic. And this is the case where the name was removed from the list of hurricane names. So that the memories of the elements will not be painful when the turn comes to this designation again.

The opinion of ordinary people about the names of tornadoes

Not everyone knows why hurricanes are called by women's names. There is an anecdote on this topic literally in one line. The answer is immediately clear: “Hurricanes are called by women’s names because they are just as violent. And when they leave, they take with them your house, car and everything you have left.”

Photo: NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Irma, which struck the Caribbean islands and Florida, is called the strongest in the Atlantic on record, moreover, it brought terrible destruction and led to dozens of deaths. It is possible that his name will never again be used by meteorologists to name hurricanes in the future, so as not to remind people of the tragic events.

The Voice of America spoke about how and why hurricanes get their names.

Why do hurricanes need names?

Initially, the name is given to a storm that later weakens or develops into a hurricane. Nameless storms and hurricanes would make life much more difficult for meteorologists, researchers, ship captains, rescue workers, and... 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 of names for the elements, 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 storm 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, etc.

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, after a lawsuit, the situation has changed: hurricanes began to be given male names.

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

For Atlantic coast the list of hurricane names for 2017 looks like this: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Emily, Franklin, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katya, Lee, Maria, Ophelia, Philip, Rina, Sin, Tammy, Vince and Whitney. Florida and Georgia are currently experiencing the effects of Hurricane Irma. Storms Jose and Katya have already formed in the Atlantic and received their names. That is, 9 more names from the 2017 list remained unused.

Can a hurricane's name "retire"?

Maybe if the elements were 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. There is a possibility that the same fate awaits the names Harvey and Irma.

From St. Philip to Harvey, Irma and the Russian cyclone Artemia.

To bookmarks

Photo by Reuters

In September 2017, the United States was hit by powerful hurricanes Harvey and Irma. They received proper names, like dozens of tropical cyclones every year. This system helps to quickly remember and recognize a particular weather hazard: short female and male names instead of coordinates are used by the media and warning services.

According to experts, the names help to better prepare for hurricanes. And weather organizations have developed lists of names and are making sure people don't get confused by Katrina, Sandy and Irma by periodically sending the most famous names"to rest."

Ships, saints and sisters

Previously, storms were named arbitrarily. In 1842, one of the devastating Atlantic hurricanes tore off the mast of the ship Antje, which was located in the western part of the ocean. The cyclone was named after "Antje", which was one of the first official names given to hurricanes. After this, they continued to be named mainly after destroyed ships and cities: for example, the Galveston Hurricane, which hit the American city of Galveston in 1900.

Sometimes tropical cyclones were named after saints. This is how hurricanes St. Anne and St. Philip appeared in Puerto Rico in the 19th century.

However, this method was inconvenient: without a clear system, confusion constantly arose. In the late 19th century, Australian meteorologist Clement Wragg began giving tropical cyclones female names. During World War II, this tradition was picked up by the US military: US Navy meteorologists called hurricanes Pacific Ocean in honor of wives, girlfriends and sisters.

Hurricane Sandy area. Photo by Reuters

In 1953 it appeared international system names for hurricanes and storms, prepared by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with support from the US National Hurricane Center. Initially, the list contained only short female names, which were awarded to cyclones in alphabetical order: the first hurricane began with the letter “A” and so on. In 1979, the expanded list included male names to avoid “gender bias.”

From Arlene to Whittney

The first list was created for storms that originate in Atlantic Ocean. A few years later, a similar system appeared in other regions where tropical cyclones form. Each region has its own names. All of them are published on the WMO website.

The most popular list is Atlantic - hurricanes named after the names from this list hit the United States. Atlantic Ocean has a total of six lists of 21 names that are in rotation. In 2017, one set of names is used, in 2018 - a second. The 2013 list will be repeated again in 2022.

The names also alternate - first in the alphabetical order there is a feminine one, then a masculine one. The letters "Q", "U", "X", "Y" and "Z" are skipped. Storms with sustained wind speeds greater than 62 km/h are given names.

In 2017, hurricanes Arlene, Brett, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irma, Jose and Kate". Before the end of the year, "Lee", "Maria", "Nate", "Ophelia", "Philip", "Rina", "Sean", "Tammy", "Vince" and "Whittney" may appear. If the list ends within a year and storms continue to form, they are named by letters of the Greek alphabet.

In 2014 in the American scientific journal A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that female hurricane names are more destructive than male hurricane names. However, the work was criticized by other scientists.

​There is no scientific correlation between the strength and size of a storm and its name.

Susan Buchanian

National Weather Service employee

Retirement for Hurricanes

Some cyclones, like Harvey and Irma, are more memorable than others due to their devastating consequences and media coverage. Because of this, using the same names again after a few years can lead to confusion. To this end, the WMO holds a meeting every year to discuss which titles to “retire.”

Consequences of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Photo by Reuters

One of the main criteria for changing a name is the pain it will cause to those affected during a cyclone. Since the system was adopted in 1953, 82 titles have been removed from the lists. Among them are the famous hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and Igor. In 2016, the names "Matthew" and "Otto" were retired.

"Irma" is called the most strong hurricane, formed in the Atlantic behind last decade. Therefore, next year this name may be replaced by another. And Irma will become the tenth “I” hurricane in the Atlantic region to retire.

Name system in Russia

In Russia for a long time there was no naming system for cyclones. The Hydrometeorological Center of Russia used typical names for weather phenomena depending on their geography of origin and characteristics: southern cyclones (Black Sea, Caspian), diving cyclones, Far Eastern storm cyclones and others.

In October 2015, the organization proposed compiling its own lists of names of “dangerous weather systems.” The Hydrometeorological Center decided to focus on the European model: strong cyclones and anticyclones are also given names in the UK and Germany. Moreover, if a disaster begins outside Russia and has already received a name, then this name is not replaced.

From time to time, hurricanes of destructive force occur in various areas of our planet. They fall on cities and towns, uproot trees, overturn cars, tear off roofs from houses, and bring with them a ton of precipitation that causes floods. The most interesting thing is that people assign female names to hurricanes. It is clear that femininity, tenderness and beauty have nothing to do with it. Most likely, the reason for such names is related to the explosive feminine character, with which men are very familiar.

There are many hypotheses regarding the names assigned to hurricanes. For example, meteorologist from Australia Clement Wragg suggested calling them after the officials who blocked the parliamentary decision on funding meteorological research. However scientific world did not support this idea. There have also been suggestions that a hurricane should be named taking into account the place and time of its occurrence. At the same time, it was proposed to pay special attention to its nature and level of destructive power. There were a lot of similar proposals. Eventually, hurricanes and typhoons began to be given female names. The greatest originality in this regard was shown by American meteorologists, who began to call these natural phenomena after the names of their mothers-in-law and wives.

The World Meteorological Organization even developed a special algorithm, according to which names were assigned to tropical cyclones and typhoons. The first name began with the first letter of the alphabet, and all subsequent ones were in alphabetical order. A little later, a list was compiled that included 84 female names that were assigned to typhoons. At the same time, there was a separate list for each individual region. For example, six copies were developed for the Atlantic Basin, each of which included 21 female names, and were used for one year. Six years later everything was repeated again. If in some region the number of hurricanes exceeded 21, then the next name had to begin with the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet. The names of the most destructive hurricanes were removed from this list and were never used again. These include, for example, Hurricane Katrina, which claimed 1,836 lives.

To be fair, the typhoons that occurred off the coast of Japan were named after animals, trees and flowers. And all because the Japanese consider women to be unusually sweet, gentle and peaceful creatures. And therefore, calling them by their names is so monstrous and destructive a natural phenomenon, would be completely wrong. For the same reason, hurricanes that occur in the northern Indian Ocean do not have names. As a matter of fact, names are assigned only to the most destructive hurricanes, which are characterized by the presence of a huge counterclockwise rotating funnel and an air flow speed of at least 63 kilometers per hour. The remaining cyclones remain nameless.

Hurricanes cause enormous damage to residents every year different countries and continents. The news tells us: “the devastating Hurricane Katrina”, “Hurricane Faina”, etc. So why are hurricanes given female names? Let's take a closer look.

Names are needed for cataclysms in order not to get confused. At the beginning of the 20th century, all hurricanes, typhoons and storms were called numerical value coordinates where this or that natural disaster manifested itself. There was also a system according to which hurricanes were named after the saint who had a name day on the day the cataclysm began (the famous “Sant’ Anna” and “San Felipe” got their names that way).
Gradually, there were not enough saints, and people got confused about the coordinates. It was necessary to come up with something radically new, understandable to everyone and easy to remember. A whole conference took place with the participation of scientists from all over the world. At the meeting it was proposed various options names for the riots of the elements - these were the names of animals, and the names of plants, and letters of the Greek alphabet. The military also offered their own version (this method of naming even lasted for some time) - “calling hurricanes” male names. All hurricane names were named in alphabetical order (the English alphabet was used). The method did not last long because there were significantly more hurricanes than letters in the alphabet.

In 1953, after the publication of D.R. Stewart’s book “Storm,” the hurricane was first called the female name “Maria” - which means it was dedicated to the main character of the novel. From that point on, until 1979, all hurricanes were called by female names. In 1979, they decided to abolish gender discrimination and call natural disasters both male and female names.

IN this moment The system of “naming” cataclysms has undergone some changes and has become somewhat more advanced. What hurricanes will be called is now decided by the World Meteorological Organization. The issue is taken very seriously - at the organization's Geneva headquarters a meeting of scientists from all over the world is held, and a list of names is approved that will be used in a given year. During one meeting, only 6 lists are approved, each containing 21 names that will be used in naming hurricanes. The list does not contain names that begin with Q, X, Y, Z, since there are very few of them, and naming hurricanes with them is almost meaningless.

It also happens that 21 names are missing - then the letters of the Greek alphabet come to the rescue (in 2005, “Alpha”, “Gamma” and “Beta” thundered deafeningly throughout the world). If any cataclysm has caused memorable destructive consequences, then its name is immortalized and cannot belong to other hurricanes.

The Japanese do not follow this system because of their mentality - women for them are gentle and sweet creatures who cannot bring evil, which is why this nation names hurricanes after phenomena, flowers, plants and animals.