Monday, September 19, 2016

Why do Hurricanes get Names?

Since 2012 there have been 30 natural disasters without names that have caused over a billion dollars in damage. So why do hurricanes get their own names? Hurricanes used to be named after their coordinates on the globe, but it was very hard to remember a hurricane named " 28°08'55.7"N 67°56'47.0"W". Media started giving storms actual names because it got more attention and allowed people to prepare themselves better. Since it is much more difficult to predict tornadoes, typhoons, and other severe weather several days in advance, there is not much use in a name. With advancing technology though, people are starting to be capable of naming winter storms before they hit.

"Three years ago, The Weather Channel released its own naming criteria for the 2012-2013 winter season. The criteria was simple: Meet the National Weather Service winter-storm warning criteria and be forecast to affect at least 2 million people or more than 400,000 square kilometers — larger than the size of Texas. The weather service issues a winter storm warning when a significant combination of hazardous winter weather is occurring or imminent.
The Weather Channel named one winter storm Nemo in 2013 -- no, not after the cartoon fish, but rather after the Latin definition of the name, which means "no one" or "nobody.""

In Europe there is a program that has named low and high pressure systems for decades.
"Drawing inspiration from military meteorologists, Karla Wege, a student at the Institute for Meteorology of the Free University Berlin, after World War II suggested naming all low- and high- pressure systems throughout Central Europe. This tradition started in 1954 and has continued to this day. Since 2002, anyone can name a European storm through the "Aktion Weeterpate" (Adopt-a-Vortex) program."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/weather/weather-naming-storms/index.html

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