Can you imagine turning on the Weather Channel to get an update on Storm C/2020 f3 (as a comet discovered in 2020 was named)? It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Fortunately for reporters (and the people watching them), it has become standard to give major storms human names. This makes it easier to communicate about them, especially during critical news updates. The practice is hundreds of years old, but there’s an intriguing legacy behind it.
A few hundred years ago, hurricanes in the West Indies were named after the Catholic saint’s day that lined up with the storm. For example, Hurricane Santa Ana landed in Puerto Rico on July 26, 1825. If storms hit on the same day in different years, names doubled up. Hurricane San Felipe I struck Puerto Rico on September 13, 1876, and then San Felipe II hit in 1928.
In the late 19th century, Australian meteorologist Clement Wragge began using names (specifically women’s names, mythical figures, and politicians he didn’t like) for tropical storms. The practice of using names in general was adopted by the U.S. Navy and Air Force during World War II when latitude and longitude identifications proved to be too cumbersome. Female names were again used, usually named after wives and girlfriends. United States weather services began using female names for storms in 1953, and later added male names to the list in 1979 after receiving criticism from women’s groups. This began the modern version of how we name storms.
For a modern storm to be named, it must reach certain criteria, involving wind speed and rotation. Although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center is the premier source for news about storms, this organization does not name them. Instead, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) does. The WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Switzerland, that focuses on weather, climate, and water resources. The WMO compiles lists of names for each of the three basins under its jurisdiction: Atlantic, Eastern North Pacific, and Central North Pacific. Countries outside of this jurisdiction have their own naming conventions. The WMO lists of storm names are cycled through every six years, meaning the list of names for the 2024 season will be used again in 2030. However, some names are retired, such as when a storm has been especially notable or destructive.
Each list contains 21 names that begin with a different letter of the alphabet (excluding “Q,” “U,” “X,” “Y,” “Z” because of the limited number of names). For the Atlantic basin, which includes the United States, names are typically chosen from English, French, and Spanish, because the countries impacted by storms in that area primarily speak one of those three languages.
The names are also selected at random and aren’t based on any real people. If your name is Alberto, don’t be shocked by Tropical Storm Alberto — rest assured that the WMO wasn’t thinking of you when the 2024 tropical storm was named.
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