Herricanes or Himicanes Who gets to Name them?

[ETXHAMXYL]

Who decides the names for storms? Do they put names in a hat and draw them out each year or so? Why not use some new hip names seems like most of them are old names like someone's grandmother or grandpa...What happened to the cultural names are they still trying to be politically correct?
I suspect lots of little girls next year will be named Katrina..Just hope no little boys get the same name, that would be problems on the school yard.
I don't think I'd like to be named after some natural disaster.
Also wonder how many hurricanes names in that hat were mother-in-law names?
I think storms should have tough names like Viper, Lucifer....not names like Buffy or Tiffany.
I wonder have they ever had names in groups like Fred, Barney, Wilma or Betty the same year? or maybe Lucy and Ethel, Ricky and Fred?

[BLHutch]

My grandmother's name is Betsy.

Her personality bears and eerie resemblance to that of Hurricane Betsy. Her affect on the family is similar to that of Hurricane Betsy in New Orleans.

[tomboudreau]

The World Meteorogolgic Organization of the UN oversees who names the storms. The names all come from the nations of the Atlantic basin. They all have input of which names get placed in the rotating list that is used every 6 years.

[gilbert88]

What happened to the cultural names are they still trying to be politically correct?

What's a "cultural name"? Or what are you trying to say?

[JQ Public]

My meteorology professor last semester was one of the guys that helped to make up the names for the original storm list back in the day. Alot of the names were of people from around the office at the nws he worked at...like secretaries and stuff. He went on naming some of the hurricanes that were named after people he knew. I forget the names off-hand but I thought that was pretty cool!

[Terrell]

While it was possible to have Fred and Barney in the same year (The B and F storms are always the same gender in the Atlantic in any given season) it probably won't happen since the name Frederic has been retired.

Wilma and Betty won't work though since the names alternate gender between male and female, so this year's B storm had a male name Bret, while the W storm has a female name Wilma. Think of it this way, if Torpical Storms and Hurricanes were numbered 1-21 in addition to their names then all the odd numbered storms would be of one gender while all the even numbered storms would be of the other. Also the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z aren't used in the Atlantic lists, as there aren't very many names that start with those letters in the languages of the people likely to be hit by an Atlantic hurricane.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

[ETXHAMXYL]

What happened to the cultural names are they still trying to be politically correct?

What's a "cultural name"? Or what are you trying to say?

I mean names that are common in other countries such as hispanic names such as Pedro or Juan, etc.

[bombarderoazul]

What happened to the cultural names are they still trying to be politically correct?

What's a "cultural name"? Or what are you trying to say?

In the east pacific the name Israel was retired for political reasons.

[NC George]

The naming of hurricanes has become too political.

[WeatherEmperor]

The naming of hurricanes has become too political.

I agree.

<RICKY>

[DoctorHurricane2003]

The naming of hurricanes has become too political.

I agree.

<RICKY>

I really hope that's sarcasm...

[Terrell]

What's political about the naming of hurricanes, other than they use both male and female names, instead of just female names?

[arkess7]

What's political about the naming of hurricanes, other than they use both male and female names, instead of just female names?

yea i dont see anything political about the names either.......

[lurkey]

What happened to the cultural names are they still trying to be politically correct?

What's a "cultural name"? Or what are you trying to say?

I mean names that are common in other countries such as hispanic names such as Pedro or Juan, etc.

This year:

There was a "Jose" and "Rita" off the Spanish name list. "Phillipe" off the French name list.

Next year:
Spanish name list: Alberto, Ernesto, and Rafael
French name list: Helene

From prior years

Juan was a 2003 storm. No Pedro, but there is Paulo on the 2001 list.

[ETXHAMXYL]

What's political about the naming of hurricanes, other than they use both male and female names, instead of just female names?

yea i dont see anything political about the names either.......

Well several years ago and I don't remember where I read something about names of hurricanes (so can't give a link) it was mentioned about trying to be politically correct in the naming of storms. For instance one person in the article said there were not enough hispanic, or african-american type of names popular in other cultures. The person said that they were white bread type names and that the organization which was responsible for the names needed to be sensitive to the issue of naming storms. I believe it was shortly after the decision was made to include male names.
I noticed that the same concerns were being raise in education when it came to math story problems used in state testing. Several groups wanted the names in the story problems to reflect a broad base of other races and cultures when choosing names to be used.
That is what I meant about being politically correct.
I think after that we did have names like Juan or Jose as names of storms. I don't know if we have had names like keyshawn, La Tisha or other names that are popular with other races. (this isn't meant to be a racist remark just an observation)

[Aslkahuna]

Ismael was NOT retired for political purposes but because to the high death toll among Mexican fishermen caught at sea when the storm rapidly developed and intensified before landfall near Los Mochis which was also racked up pretty badly because of short fused warnings. The name selected to replace Ismael was Israel which, though definitely a male name used in Spanish speaking countries , was dropped for political reasons.

Steve

[ETXHAMXYL]

Ive noticed some names get re-used. How do they decide when to retire a name? After a big one like Katrina and Camille I could see, but what about smaller ones? Would Rita be re-used or re-tired?

[f5]

remember the name Adolf (HITLER) and Israel appeared in the same list

[DoctorHurricane2003]

Actually it was Adolph

And EX, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. They pick names that are in the English, Spanish, and French languages because those are the languages of the affected areas in the North Atlantic.

[lurkey]

Ive noticed some names get re-used. How do they decide when to retire a name? After a big one like Katrina and Camille I could see, but what about smaller ones? Would Rita be re-used or re-tired?

According to NOAA:

In the Atlantic basin, tropical cyclone names are "retired" (that is, not to be used again for a new storm) if it is deemed to be quite noteworthy because of the damage and/or deaths it caused. This is to prevent confusion with a historically well-known cyclone with a current one in the Atlantic basin.

Whether a storm is retired or not is determined by The World Meteorological Organization(they are also the group that come up with the list of the names.) A request by the member nation affected by the storm (in this case, US) to retire the name is made.

BTW .. . I think Rita will be retired.