Watching the news on television or radio, from time to time we come across alarming messages telling us that a natural disaster is raging somewhere on the planet. Reporters often call hurricanes and typhoons by female names. Where did this tradition come from? We will try to figure this out.
Women's names were the first to be used as names for hurricanes in the United States. During the Second World War, military meteorologists, whose department was monitoring the climatic state of the Pacific Ocean, began to use women's names to refer to this or that storm. Oddly enough, these names were borne by their wives or mothers-in-law. The innovation quickly caught on, and to indicate this or that typhoon, women's names began to be used in all weather stations in America. Women's names were easy to remember and facilitated the rapid transfer of accurate data between stations, ships, and bases.
There are several systems that determine the naming regulations for typhoons. Without delving into all the intricacies of military forecasters, we note that the rule remains unshakable, according to which the most global hurricanes that lead to the death of many people “take away” their name forever. Hurricane Katrina, which struck the American coast in 2007, will remain only one in history. No more meteorologist will call a typhoon by this female name.
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Why are hurricanes given human names? Here Kirill, Kiryusha, damn it, recently trampled around Europe, Katrina last year in America... Why
Hurricanes are usually given names. This is done to avoid confusion, especially when several tropical cyclones are active in the same area of the world. The names are selected by the World Meteorological Organization according to a certain rule. And the rule is this: the name of the first hurricane of the year begins with the first letter of the English alphabet - A, the second gets a name starting with the letter B, and so on. It is also necessary to alternate between female and male names. For example, in 1998, the Atlantic hurricanes were named Alex, Bonnie, Charlie, Daniela, and so on.
The custom of calling typhoons and hurricanes by female names arose relatively recently. Previously, they received their names haphazardly and accidentally. Sometimes a hurricane was named after the saint on whose day the disaster occurred, or it was named after the area that suffered the most from it. 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. There is an original method for naming hurricanes, invented by an Australian meteorologist. He used his office to take professional revenge on individual members of parliament who refused to vote on weather research credits, and named typhoons after them.
At first, only women's names were used for names; later, when they became scarce, men's names were used. The tradition arose in the early 1940s of the twentieth century. At first, it was an informal terminology among U.S. Air Force and Navy meteorologists, used to facilitate the exchange of information about hurricanes found on weather maps - short female names helped to avoid confusion and shortened the text of radio and telegraphic broadcasts. 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. Since 1979, tropical cyclones began to be assigned male exchanges.
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 girlfriends. After the war, the US National Weather Service compiled alphabetical list 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 women's 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 off the list of meteorologists.
Text by Pavel Digay
Matthew had a fair amount of fun in the Caribbean islands and the American coast. However, a frivolous tone is inappropriate here, since there were toppled billboards, torn off roofs and broken boats. People died - in Cuba, in Jamaica... In Haiti alone - more than five hundred. So “played a trick” is clearly not the right word.
There is no doubt that there would have been even more casualties if, by the time the hurricane reached the mainland, it had not become weak and exhausted. And if they had not prepared for the meeting with him, a state of emergency would have been declared in the region ahead of time; Residents of Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina were urged to “move away from the coast” if possible, in other words, they were called to evacuate.
However, what the “Monster named Matt” managed to do, as the newspapermen called him, was enough for this name - Matthew - to be forever deleted from the lists of the World Meteorological Organization, which names hurricanes. That's the rule.
Rules appear over time, and they are polished by it. Before the advent of a harmonious system for naming hurricanes, they received their names by chance, although much more often they remained nameless. But it still happened...
Sometimes the hurricane was named after the saint, on whose day he revealed himself to people in all his horror. This, for example, happened with Hurricane Santa Anna, which reached Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825, St. Anna's Day. If a hurricane appeared again on the same day - after a year, two, ten, a century, it was assigned a serial number: this is how San Felipe and San Felipe II appeared on the pages of history.
Sometimes a hurricane was named after an area that suffered more than others from the madness of the elements. One of the most significant examples is the Galveston Hurricane, which hit the city of Galveston on September 8, 1900, with wind speeds of 214 km/h.
Later, meteorologists learned to track the path of hurricanes, and the most powerful hurricane of 1935 was called “Pin” - “by association.” But since it was not the first whose form of development resembled an object of tailor’s craft, it was numbered as No. 4.
The need to establish, if not control, then accounting for natural disasters led to the fact that hurricanes began to be assigned four-digit numbers: the first two digits are the year (or rather, the last two digits of the year, because we are talking about the 20th century), the second pair of digits is the serial number for this year. They also tried to name hurricanes based on geographic coordinates.
All these methods, however, were not very convenient, but for the time being it was not possible to come up with anything better. What helped, oddly enough, was the war, the essence of which was actually destruction, not creation. And yet... American pilots flying over the Pacific Ocean began to call the typhoons that threatened them after the names of their wives and girlfriends. They did this not so much out of love for them, but rather out of necessity - to avoid confusion in the radiograms, and besides, it shortened the text of the broadcasts, which was also useful, sometimes vital.
The experience of American pilots was in demand in 1950, when it was decided to give proper names to all storms whose wind speed on the Beaufort scale exceeds 64 knots, that is, hurricanes*.
(* To be fair, it should be noted that at the beginning of the twentieth century, Australian meteorologist Clement Ragg began to assign names to natural disasters... those parliamentarians who refused to vote for the provision of loans for meteorological research, but this did not have much effect on them...)
But it is only partially in demand, since instead of women’s names it was decided to use the phonetic alphabet, which was used in radio communications by the American military. Accordingly, the first hurricanes that appeared after this reform received the names Able, Baker, Charlie**.
(** The phonetic alphabet is a standardized way of reading letters for a given language and/or organization. If suddenly someone decided to use the Old Church Slavonic phonetic alphabet to name natural disasters, then hurricanes would be called Az, Buki, Vedi...)
However, the alphabet is not endless, and this did not eliminate the confusion - there were too many “Charlie” and “Able” on the air. And that’s when they remembered women’s names. The idea is really wonderful - there are many of them, they are short, they are easily perceived and stored in memory. In general, what you need.
The new system debuted in 1953, initially in the vast Atlantic. For this reason, English, German, Spanish and French female names were included in the lists. One for each letter of the Latin alphabet... Although, no, not for each: it was decided not to use the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z - female names for these letters are not very simple and not very euphonious, that is, they do not meet the requirements for them requirements. So there are 21 names left on the list. Accordingly, the first hurricane of the season will necessarily begin with the letter A, the second with the letter B, and so on. It is easy to calculate that the same hurricane “Matthew” is the thirteenth on the list of 2016, and the fourteenth will begin with the letter N.
Sorry, but is Matthew a girl's name? Of course not. The explanation here is simple: undivided female dominance in this area continued until 1979, when, on the initiative of meteorologists in Oceania, the World Meteorological Organization expanded the “hurricane list” to include male names - they began to alternate with female ones.
This decision turned out to be doubly successful, because the lists needed to be replenished, and difficulties began to arise with the choice of female names. Firstly, not one name was required, but six, because the “hurricane lists” were created six years in advance, and at the end of the cycle everything starts all over again. And secondly (and this is the main thing!), some names were crossed off the lists and needed replacement.
Yes, the list of names is not dogma. If a name falls out of widespread use, it may be replaced by another. But more often the reason is different. If a hurricane had catastrophic consequences, then its name remains forever in history and is never used again. For example, none of them will anymore bear the name Katrina - after the 2005 hurricane that almost destroyed St. Louis. There will be no Hurricane Irene in the future - after the 2011 hurricane, which caused several dozen deaths. After 2012, Sandy's name disappeared from the list. This year has crossed out Matthew...
Even if not all the names were used in a given year, the next year begins with a new list, again with a name starting with the letter A. A reasonable question arises: what if there are fewer hurricanes than 21, and if there are more, then what? In this case (this actually happened in 2005), the letters of the Greek alphabet are used: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and so on.
Be that as it may, the “Atlantic” example showed its viability, and a similar naming approach was used for other zones where hurricanes form - for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, for the Timor Sea, for the northwestern coast of Australia. However, what is worth saying here is that there was no blind copying about the approach.
The Japanese, for example, categorically refused to give typhoons female names. They consider women to be gentle, peaceful, obedient creatures, in short, not at all like typhoons. That's why they give typhoons names of animals, flowers, trees, and even foods.
In the north of the Indian Ocean, for reasons of tolerance, lists are formed not on the basis of the letters of the alphabet, but on the principle of “one name for each country in the region,” and cyclones that do not leave the equatorial latitudes are completely left unnamed.
The rotation of names in different regions also has differences: in some places a three-year cycle is adopted, and in others names go in a circle without reference to years - having given the last name from the list, meteorologists simply return to the beginning of the list.
But let's agree - all this is particular. The principle remains unchanged: a real hurricane must have a name! To make it clear who to fear and whom to curse.
Women's names are worse
Worse than? Than men's. At least when it comes to hurricanes. This was proven by psychologists from the University of Illinois (USA). At first they were at a dead end: on the one hand, the name of a hurricane has nothing to do with its intensity, it is assigned automatically, according to the approved list; on the other hand, the number of casualties and material damage is always higher for hurricanes with female names, and this pattern persists even in cases where the “male” hurricane is noticeably more powerful than the “female” one. Further research clarified the matter. It turns out that female names for natural disasters evoke less fear in people compared to male ones, so people are less trusting, for example, of calls to evacuate from dangerous areas, which leads to an increase in the number of victims.
How do they appear?
Hurricanes form over the oceans when water temperatures exceed 26 degrees Celsius. A hurricane is created by perturbation, which occurs when warm, moist air that comes into contact with the sea begins to rise. Having reached high altitudes, it condenses, releasing heat. It causes other masses of hot air to rise and condense, causing a kind of chain reaction. Meanwhile, the air flows begin to rotate in a counterclockwise direction (clockwise - in Southern Hemisphere) due to the rotation of the Earth, dragging along the clouds of perturbation. When the wind speed reaches 130 km/h, it is already a hurricane. Hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere, due to the rotation of the Earth, move westward (from Africa towards America) at a speed that initially does not exceed 20-25 km/h.
What's in his name...
Hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones... This natural phenomena of the same order, similar in their characteristics. Hurricane-like storms in the Atlantic Ocean are called hurricanes. Pacific Ocean- typhoons, in the Indian Ocean - cyclones, off the coast of Australia - "williwilly", in Oceania - "willivaw", and in the Philippines - "baguio".
Hurricane- a distorted name of the god of fear Huracan among the South American Quiche Indians. In the Atlantic, hurricane season begins in June and continues until November. The seasonal norm is the formation of 12 storms, of which six become hurricanes, including three very strong ones.
Typhoon- from the Chinese “tai fung” or “tai feng”, which means “big wind”. The typhoon activity zone lies between the East Asian coast in the west, the equator in the south, and the International Date Line in the east. On average, there are about 30 typhoons per year, most of which develop to the hurricane stage, the rest reach the tropical storm stage. Most typhoons form from May to November.
Cyclones found in both the northern and southern parts of the Indian Ocean. On average there are 8 to 9 hurricanes per year (in the Bay of Bengal, the highest number of cyclones occurs in May and October, while the minimum number occurs in July and February.
Russian variant
In October 2015, the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia decided to give proper names to cyclones, anticyclones and other dangerous weather events, operating throughout the country to raise public awareness of their dangers. In this our meteorologists have followed the example of the United States, Great Britain, Ireland and Germany. At the same time, it was agreed that the naming procedure would be integrated with the European and Far Eastern ones, that is, if a cyclone moves through Europe and already has a name, it will not change, the same with the arrival of a typhoon in Primorye or the Kuril Islands.
A popular vote was announced. Several hundred proposals were received - for 25 letters, it was decided to use that many. The final selection was made by meteorologists and linguists, and the choice was determined not by the popularity of the name or its “purely Slavic” roots, but by its dissimilarity from others and ease of memorization. Here they are: Artemy-Agniya, Bulat-Bella, Vera-Vitus, Gleb-Galina, Daria -Daniil, Egor-Elena, Zhanna-Zhdan, Zakhar-Zara, Inga-Ivan, Kirill-Karina, Lydia-Lev, Matvey-Maria, Nina-Nestor, Oscar-Oksana, Polina-Peter, Rinat-Rosa, Snezhana-Severin , Timur-Tamara, Ondine-Ustin, Fadey-Faina, Kharita-Khariton, Caesar-Cheslava, Elina-Eldar, Yuri-Yuliana, Yana-Yaroslav.
Already in December 2015 Russian list“made its debut” - the name Artemy was given to the whirlwind, which brought winds of more than 25 m/s and heavy precipitation to Crimea and Krasnodar.
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. A prerequisite is an increase in water temperature to 26 o C. Wet air, which is in contact with the sea surface, gradually rises. Upon reaching the desired height, it condenses and releases heat. The reaction makes others rise air masses. The process becomes cyclical.
Streams of hot air begin to rotate counterclockwise, which is due to 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:
- 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.
- Moderate - Trees and shrubs receive significant damage. Some of them are uprooted. Prefabricated structures are severely damaged. Marinas and piers are being destroyed.
- Significant - prefabricated houses suffer damage, large trees fall, roofs, doors and windows are torn off from permanent buildings. Severe flooding is occurring within coastlines.
- 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.
- 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 of 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 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 of 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. The cities that suffered the most 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 destructive 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 of the Bahamas suffered catastrophic destruction. 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. Heavy wind gusts reached speeds of 250 km/h.
On September 10, a natural disaster reached the coast of Florida. Local authorities had to urgently evacuate more than 6 million people. 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 began to be 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, it is not necessary to fully restore the infrastructure in the affected areas. populated areas, more significant financial injections will be required, 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. 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.
