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Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Yuneek(f): 3:32pm On Sep 13, 2018
By Unigwe Chidinma

You might be surprised to wake up one day and realize that your highly revered name has been given to a Hurricane.

A lot of people would have wondered or still wondering why these disasters are given not just any names but human names, particularly female names - Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Katrina and so on.

Does it mean women spell disaster? Or is it a mere coincidence?

Well, if you are in this category of people who have been asking a thousand and one questions on why Hurricanes have names, this is the best place to be at this time.

I was that curious also and my curiosity drove me into a mini research and I will be summarizing my findings in this piece.



For the benefit of some of us who are oblivious of what a Hurricane even means, let me just offer as little explanation as I can (I didn't study Geology, I actually studied Communications), so I'm too generous to have offered to let you in on a what I found out.

Well, Hurricane is a storm which comes with a violent wind, in particular, a tropical cyclone in the Caribbean.

Hurricanes occur every year, and sometimes there could be multiple hurricanes(say two or three) happening at the same time.

So naming a hurricane would make it easier for meteorologists, researchers, emergency response workers, ship captains and citizens to communicate about specific hurricanes for a better understanding.

At least so that one wouldn't go yarning gibberish or mixing things up when discussing these disasters.



The World Meteorological Organization develops a list of names that are assigned in alphabetical order to tropical storms as they are discovered in each hurricane season.

These names are not fixed as they are subject to be repeated, hence we can have Hurricane Florence this year and then have another Hurricane Florence some other time but at an interval of six years.

However, the names of especially severe storms are permanently retired from use especially when it causes so much death and damage that reusing the name would be insensitive and more like re-opening old wounds and making them fresh all over. For instance, in 2016, Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Otto caused significant damages and fatalities. Out of respect for the people who suffered losses, the names "Matthew" and "Otto" were retired and will not be used again for tropical storms. Similarly, "Katrina" has been retired from the name list and will not be used again.

History of Atlantic Hurricane Names

Atlantic hurricanes have been given names for a few hundred years. People living in the Caribbean Islands named storms after the saint of the day from the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar for the day on which the hurricane occurred such as "Hurricane San Felipe."



However, when two hurricanes struck on the same date in different years, the hurricanes would be referred to by names such as "Hurricane San Felipe the first" and "Hurricane San Felipe the second."

In the early days of meteorology in the United States, storms were named with a latitude/longitude designation representing the location where the storm originated.

It was quite herculean to remember these names, so this resulted in errors in communication.

In a bid to make it easier, military meteorologists working in the Pacific began to use women's names for storms during the Second World War.

So in 1953 it was adopted by the National Hurricane Center for use on storms originating in the Atlantic Ocean. Once this practice started, hurricane names quickly became part of common language, and public awareness of hurricanes increased dramatically.



In 1978, meteorologists watching storms in the eastern North Pacific began using men's names for half of the storms.

Meteorologists for the Atlantic Ocean began using men's names in 1979. For each year a list of 21 names, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet, was developed and arranged in alphabetical order (names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z were not used).

The first tropical storm of the year was given the name beginning with the letter "A," the second with the letter "B" and so on through the alphabet. During even-numbered years, men's names were given to the odd-numbered storms and during odd-numbered years, women's names were given to odd-numbered storms.

Today, the World Meteorological Organization maintains the lists of Atlantic hurricane names. They have six lists which are reused every six years.

https://www.dailynaija.com/post/why-are-hurricanes-named-ever-wondered-here-is-the-answer-you-seek-read

20 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Elolam87(m): 5:09pm On Sep 13, 2018
Woow. Great

7 Likes 1 Share

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Aldebaran(m): 5:44pm On Sep 13, 2018
grin
Imagine having names like...

Hurricane AMAKA grin

Hurricane BOLANLE grin

Hurricane RASHEEDATU grin

70 Likes 4 Shares

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by enitey(f): 5:45pm On Sep 13, 2018
Great

1 Like

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by lonelydora: 5:45pm On Sep 13, 2018
Where 'Florence' don reach sef? It will hit coast around 2pm
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Okoyeebo: 5:45pm On Sep 13, 2018
Hurricane Buhari
Sweeping across Nigeria in 2019

48 Likes 4 Shares

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by allanphash7(m): 5:45pm On Sep 13, 2018
Next is Hurricane Bashiru

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Nobody: 5:46pm On Sep 13, 2018
Hmmm
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Triniti(m): 5:46pm On Sep 13, 2018
Educative

2 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by mathew247: 5:47pm On Sep 13, 2018
'Hurricane Buhari' is what's happening in Nigeria right now.

40 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by anochuko01(m): 5:47pm On Sep 13, 2018
human or woman? its because women are so dramatic
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Nobody: 5:47pm On Sep 13, 2018
You didn't answer the question, why is it given a human name? Still waiting for your answer and next time stop beating around the bush.

71 Likes 1 Share

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by DrholuwaTOBI(m): 5:48pm On Sep 13, 2018
wow...
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by DEXTROVERT: 5:48pm On Sep 13, 2018
YOU
MADE
NO
SENSE
AT
ALL

BECAUSE
YOU
DIDN'T
ANSWER
THE
QUESTION
YOU
RAISED

WHY
ARE
HURRICANES
NAMED
AFTER
HUMAN
AND
HOW. DID
THEY
ARRIVE
AT
SUCH
NAMES

HALF BAKED
GRADUATES
LITTERING
EVERYWHERE

71 Likes 3 Shares

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by lakesider(m): 5:49pm On Sep 13, 2018
@Op.. Some of your write ups are wrong... People pay so that an hurricane is named after their girlfriends or wife. Period

2 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by sdindan: 5:49pm On Sep 13, 2018
mathew247:
'Hurricane Buhari' is what's happening in Nigeria right now.

Real one.

23 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by boolet: 5:50pm On Sep 13, 2018
Lol

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Okoyeebo: 5:50pm On Sep 13, 2018
lonelydora:
Where 'Florence' don reach sef? It will hit coast around 2pm

She dey inside Uber dey come.
Lay your bed, on ac, dey sip your Alomo dey wait am.

1 Like

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by DCLXV1(m): 5:50pm On Sep 13, 2018
You didnt still tell why they bear human names , especially females' and who does the naming!
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by omocalabar(m): 5:51pm On Sep 13, 2018
Katrina and wilmar comes to mind
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by puretayo(m): 5:51pm On Sep 13, 2018
Nice write up. Jst yesterday a frnd was feeding with bobo and akara that hurricanes are named by the first person to cite it.

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Etown780(m): 5:53pm On Sep 13, 2018
[color=#550000[b]]BIG NO ,And YOU ARE WRONG THE NAMES ARE FROM ROman gods and goddess . Go BACK AND DO A PROPER RESEARCH [/b][/color]
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by bknight: 5:53pm On Sep 13, 2018
Yuneek, are you still typing? Because I am still waiting to read why they are identified by human names, especially female names.

It won’t be as informative as it should without answering the very question the thread sought to answer.

3 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by DCLXV1(m): 5:53pm On Sep 13, 2018
My 20 is NJ . Is florence hitting this place?
Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by seenga(m): 5:53pm On Sep 13, 2018
Udeme don't mind the lazy blogger. He didn't answer the questions yet. Just offering some mumbo-jumbo.
udemzy101:
You didn't answer the question, why is it given a human name? Still waiting for your answer and next time stop beating around the bush.

3 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by osemoses1234(m): 5:54pm On Sep 13, 2018
Hurricane lifeless buhari

1 Like

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by nelronaldo(m): 5:55pm On Sep 13, 2018
Thank you OP, nice history but why human names, i am not sure typhoons are named too

1 Like

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by Nobody: 5:56pm On Sep 13, 2018
seenga:
Udeme don't mind the lazy blogger. He didn't answer the questions yet. Just offering some mumbo-jumbo.

I dey tell you, that was the main reason I read the post from beginning till end, hoping to know why but I was disappointed.

4 Likes

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by khvnggift(m): 6:00pm On Sep 13, 2018
Hurricane buhari happening in Naija presently grin grin

1 Like

Re: Why Hurricanes Have Human Names by bonnyhope: 6:01pm On Sep 13, 2018
udemzy101:
You didn't answer the question, why is it given a human name? Still waiting for your answer and next time stop beating around the bush.
Every saint you hear of today has a day they are being celebrated(feast) in a catholic calendar. So if a huricane occurs on the feast day of that saint, it will be named after that saint. If you hear of huricane Mathew, it implies that the huricane happened on the feast day of saint Mathew according to Catholic Calendar.

2 Likes

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