Why are hurricanes named after people? Why do hurricanes have male and female names? Eastern commitment to naming

Why are hurricanes named? According to what principles does this happen? What categories are assigned to such elements? What are the most destructive hurricanes in history? We will talk about all this in our article.

How are hurricanes formed?

Such natural phenomena originate in tropical zones in the middle of the ocean. Required condition There is an increase in water temperature to 26 o C. The moist air that comes into contact with the sea surface gradually rises. Upon reaching the desired height, it condenses and releases heat. The reaction causes other air masses to rise. The process becomes cyclical.

Streams of hot air begin to rotate counterclockwise, which is caused by the movement of the planet around its own axis. An abundance of clouds are forming. As soon as the wind speed begins to exceed 130 km/h, the hurricane takes on a clear outline and begins to move in a certain direction.

Hurricane categories

A special scale for determining the nature of the damage after was developed by researchers Robert Simpson and Herbert Saffir in 1973. Scientists based the selection of criteria on the size of storm waves and wind speed. How many categories of hurricanes? There are 5 threat levels in total:

1. Minimal - small trees and shrubs are subject to destructive influences. Minor damage to coastal piers is observed, small vessels are being torn from their anchors.
2. Moderate - Trees and shrubs receive significant damage. Some of them are uprooted. Prefabricated structures are severely damaged. Marinas and piers are being destroyed.
3. Significant - prefabricated houses suffer damage, they fall large trees, roofs, doors and windows are torn off from permanent buildings. Within coastlines Serious flooding is observed.
4. Huge - bushes, trees, billboards, prefabricated structures soar into the air. Houses are being destroyed to the ground. Capital buildings are subject to serious destructive influences. The height of water in areas where areas are flooded reaches three meters above sea level. Floods can travel 10 kilometers inland. There is significant damage from debris and waves.
5. Catastrophic - a hurricane sweeps away all prefabricated structures, trees and bushes. Most buildings receive critical damage. Serious damage is caused to the lower floors. The effects of the disaster are visible more than 45 kilometers inland. There is a need for mass evacuation of the population living in coastal areas.

How are hurricanes named?

The decision to name atmospheric phenomena was made during World War II. During this period, American meteorologists actively monitored the behavior of typhoons in the Pacific Ocean. Trying to prevent confusion, researchers gave the manifestations of the elements the names of their own mothers-in-law and wives. At the end of the war, the United States National Weather Service compiled a special list of hurricane names that were short and easy to remember. Thus, the compilation of statistical data for researchers has become significantly easier.

Specific rules for naming hurricanes appeared in the 50s of the last century. At first, the phonetic alphabet was used. However, the method turned out to be inconvenient. Soon, meteorologists decided to return to a proven option, namely, the use of female names. Subsequently, it became a system. How hurricanes are named in the United States has also been learned in other countries around the world. The principle of choosing short, memorable names began to be used to identify typhoons formed in all oceans.

In the 1970s, the process for naming hurricanes was streamlined. Thus, the first major natural phenomenon of the year began to be designated by the shortest, sweetest female name according to the first letter of the alphabet. Subsequently, names were used by other letters according to their sequence in the alphabet. To identify the manifestations of the elements, a wide list was compiled, which included 84 female names. In 1979, meteorologists decided to expand the presented list to include male names hurricanes.

"San Calixto"

One of the largest hurricanes in history, it was named after the famous Roman martyr bishop. According to documented information, a natural phenomenon swept across the Caribbean islands back in 1780. As a result of the disaster, about 95% of all buildings were damaged. The hurricane raged for 11 days and killed 27,000 people. A crazy storm destroyed the entire British fleet that was stationed in the Caribbean.

"Katrina"

Perhaps Hurricane Katrina in America became the most discussed in history. A natural disaster with a cute female name caused devastating consequences in the territories near the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of the disaster, the infrastructure in and Louisiana was almost completely destroyed. The hurricane killed about 2,000 people. The states of Florida, Alabama, Ohio, Georgia, and Kentucky were also affected. As for its territory, it was subjected to a serious flood.

Subsequently, the disaster led to a social catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. Cities that have been affected the greatest destruction, became the epicenter of mass crime. Statistics on theft of property, looting, and robberies have reached incredible numbers. The government managed to return life to normal only a year later.

"Irma"

Hurricane Irma is one of the most recent tropical cyclones with extremely devastating consequences. A natural phenomenon formed in August 2017, near the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. In September, the hurricane received a category five threat. Settlements located in the south suffered catastrophic destruction Bahamas. More than half the population lost their housing.

Then Hurricane Irma reached Cuba. Soon the capital, Havana, was completely flooded. According to meteorologists, waves up to 7 meters high were recorded here. Squally wind gusts reached speeds of 250 km/h.

On September 10, a natural disaster reached the coast of Florida. Local authorities More than 6 million people had to be urgently evacuated. The hurricane soon moved to Miami, where it caused severe destruction. A few days later, Irma's category dropped to its minimum level. On September 12 of this year, the hurricane completely disintegrated.

"Harvey"

Hurricane Harvey in the United States is a natural phenomenon that formed on August 17, 2017. The tropical cyclone caused flooding in the southern and eastern parts. The consequence was the death of more than 80 people. After the catastrophic destruction in Houston, cases of theft and looting increased significantly. City authorities were forced to impose a curfew. Public order became controlled by the military.

Elimination of damage after Hurricane Harvey in the United States required the allocation of $8 billion from the budget. However, according to experts, the complete restoration of infrastructure in the affected settlements will require more significant financial injections, estimated at approximately 70 billion.

"Camilla"

In August 1969, one of the largest cyclones in history formed, which was named Camilla. The epicenter of the strike was in the United States. A natural phenomenon, which was assigned the fifth category of danger, hit the state of Mississippi. The incredible amount of rainfall led to widespread flooding of areas. Researchers were never able to measure the maximum wind force due to the destruction of all meteorological instruments. Therefore, the real power of Hurricane Camille remains a mystery to this day.

As a result of the disaster, more than 250 people went missing. About 8,900 residents of Mississippi, Virginia, Louisiana and Alabama were injured to varying degrees of severity. Thousands of houses were under water, buried under trees and covered by landslides. Material damage to the state amounted to about $6 billion.

"Mitch"

Hurricane Mitch caused a real disaster in the late 90s. The epicenter of the disaster was in the Atlantic Basin. In Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, the largest number of buildings and roads were destroyed. Died big number of people. According to official data, the disaster took the lives of 11,000 people. A similar number of people were included in the lists of missing persons. A significant part of African territories has turned into continuous mud swamps. Cities began to suffer massively from a shortage of drinking water. Hurricane Mitch raged for a whole month.

"Andrew"

Andrew also deserves a place on the list of the strongest hurricanes in history. In 1992, he walked throughout the entire territory, affecting the states of Florida and Louisiana. According to official data, the disaster caused $26 billion in damage to the United States. Although experts say that this amount is significantly underestimated, and the real losses are 34 billion.

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 chosen were 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.

The average European most likely only heard about a tornado, hurricane, or tropical storm on TV in news feeds. It just so happens that at present these destructive natural disasters strike only certain areas of the globe, whose inhabitants suffer greatly from such “whims” of nature.

Surely, many people still have fresh memories of the consequences of the terrible Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans(USA) at the end of August 2005. As a result of the raging disaster, 80% of the city was flooded, 1836 people died local residents, economic damage was estimated at $125 billion. It was the most destructive hurricane V modern history USA, and the sixth strongest in the Atlantic basin in the entire history of weather observations.

Probably, few people think about why scientists assign female names to such natural elements? After all, it wasn't always like this.

Indeed, if we turn to modern history, then initially, of course, there was no systematization in the naming of hurricanes. Hurricanes were often named after a saint, depending on the day on which the disaster occurred, or according to the area in which the natural disaster occurred. In some cases, the name was determined by the shape of the hurricane. Another original method was invented by Australian meteorologist Clement Wragg: he named typhoons after members of parliament who refused to vote on the allocation of credits for meteorological research.

During World War II, American experts monitored typhoons in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and to avoid confusion, meteorologists began naming typhoons after their wives or mothers-in-law. After the end of the war, the US National Meteorological Service compiled an official list of women's short, simple and easy to remember names. Thus, in the middle of the last century, the first system in the names of hurricanes appeared. The idea caught on, and the practice was later extended to include Pacific typhoons, storms in the Indian Ocean, the Timor Sea and the northwest coast of Australia. Over time, the procedure for naming hurricanes was streamlined. The first hurricane of the year received a name starting with the first letter of the alphabet, the second - with the second, and so on. A list of 84 female names was compiled for typhoons; in 1979, this list was expanded and supplemented with male names. In the event that a disaster was very destructive, like Katrina, the name assigned to it is forever deleted from the list and replaced by another.

But the Japanese categorically refused to assign female names to hurricanes, because they consider women gentle and quiet creatures. In the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, typhoons are given names of animals, flowers, trees, and even foods, while the tropical cyclones of the northern Indian Ocean remain nameless.

Natural elements are not subject to human control. And when alarming messages come from one or another part of the globe about a tornado, typhoon, hurricane, and we hear beautiful names, which have nothing to do with the nature 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 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 in temperature 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 even more than 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 Atlantic Ocean there are 6 alphabetical lists, each containing twenty-one names. If it happens that there are more hurricanes than twenty-one 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, in one area water basin Several tornadoes can form simultaneously.

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 are characterized by the names of inanimate objects: plants, trees, products, and there are also names of animals.

Who names tornadoes?

As previously noted, when compiling 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 formed new list, 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.”

Hurricane Irma continues its path of destruction to Florida. Hurricane Jose is gaining strength in the Atlantic. And Hurricane Katya originates in the Gulf of Mexico. Irma, Jose, Katya? How are these energetic forces of nature given names to hurricanes?

Hurricanes are named for public safety reasons, said Claire Nullis, spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In means mass media It has become easier to publish a storm and increase interest in warnings when the storm has a name, according to the WMO.

Why was the hurricane named Irma?

Hurricane Irma gets its name because it follows Harvey on the WMO's predetermined list of hurricanes that occur in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean.

Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive names like Irma in written and colloquial speech faster and less error-prone than older, more cumbersome longitude-latitude identification methods. These benefits are especially important for exchange detailed information about a storm between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases and ships at sea.
Using easy-to-remember names greatly reduces confusion when two or more tropical storms occur simultaneously. For example, one hurricane may be moving slowly westward in the Gulf of Mexico, while at the same time another hurricane may be moving rapidly north along the Atlantic coast. In the past, confusion and false rumors arose when storm warnings broadcast from radio stations were mistaken for warnings about an entirely different storm hundreds of miles away.

Where do all these names come from, and what name will come next? You probably already know that hurricane names are in alphabetical order throughout the season, but these are more structured.

The World Meteorological Organization, which is responsible for naming hurricanes and tropical storms, has six lists that they go through. (In other words, they are currently using non-service names that were also used in both 2011 and 2005). They have been using this system since 1953.

Hurricane names list

List of hurricane names, for 2017 and beyond

What are the names of hurricanes?

Hurricane names have already been planned for six years in advance, including 21. But while the names more or less follow the alphabet, don't hold your breath for Hurricanes Quinn or Humberto—there aren't any names on the list that start with Q, U, X, Y or Z, because there aren't enough of them that start with those letters, according to Nullis .

In the unlikely event that there are more hurricanes per year than predetermined names, hurricanes in this region of the world are named after Greek letters: alpha, beta, gamma, etc. Storms have been named Alpha Alpha Alpha several times: in 1972, 1973 and again in 2005, although the latter storm, which battered Haiti and the Dominican Republic with heavy rain, was overshadowed by the devastation of Hurricane Wilma.

Hurricane names are removed at the request of the country's representative at the annual meetings of a WMO committee called the Regional Association Hurricane Committee. This is done when a storm has been so destructive that future use of the hurricane's name is considered unethical, according to Nullis. Katrina, Sandy and Ike - the only catastrophic Atlantic hurricanes that impacted the US - were cut from the list (below).

Hurricane names

Names of hurricanes and typhoons

But the process of naming Atlantic hurricanes hasn't always been so neat.

Beginning in 1950, storms in the region were named after the United Army/Navy phonetic alphabet — Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog — when the convention changed to use female names instead, according to Patrick Fitzpatrick, a professor of meteorology at Mississippi State University and author of Hurricanes: A Reference Guide (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2006). In the interest of gender equality, male names were added in 1979, Nullis said.

Officially, the storms are not named after specific people, but that doesn't stop people from getting upset about sharing their name with a massive storm, Nullis said.

She recalled a complaint last year from a man named Matthew who was unhappy about sharing his name with the 2016 storm that caused such havoc in Haiti. On another occasion, someone said the names weren't "tough" enough.

Others have different ideas about what to name hurricanes, including those who suggest they should be named after science fiction characters and others who suggest their own proper names, Nullis said.

There are more vindictive people who want to stamp their personal grievances on natural disasters.

“We had one lady who asked us to name a hurricane after her ex-husband"Nullis said.

As for Irma, this is the first year that the name has been used for a hurricane. Irma took the place of Irina, a name that was removed from rotation at the request of the United States in 2012. Whether the names of recent hurricanes Irma or Harvey will be dropped is a decision that will be made by the regional association's Hurricane Committee at its next meeting, to be held in France in 2020.