What’s behind the names [hurricane]?
Have you ever questioned why hurricanes such as “Katrina” and “Rita” weren’t named appropriately? I am. When I think of the name “Katrina” I think, “[...] oh Katrina would you mind bringing a nice fruit salad and iced tea to the BBQ?”, and “Rita” would be something like “[...] we’ll be home late, would you mind reading Jack n’ The Beanstalk to the kids tonight?”
These names are are misleading. Maybe people would have turned up the fear factor if they knew “Butch” or “Terurshiatupa” was blowing into town.
Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center and now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The lists featured only women’s names until 1979, when men’s and women’s names were alternated. Six lists are used in rotation. Thus, the 2004 list will be used again in 2010.
We better prepare ourselves for “Joyce” next year, she might bring a nice batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
