Overheard at... home

“Is there a hurricane named Deanne?”

Interestingly enough, there isn’t… at least not technically. I was inspired to do some research on how a hurricane (the storm, not the drink) gets its names. Sadly, I am sure this, along with many other important life facts, was something I learned in school but have now forgotten.

First off… names are given to tropical storms, and when a storm is designated a hurricane by the speed of the wind it, retains the tropical storm name. Over the years there have been many different naming strategies. For example, in the Caribbean hurricanes were named after the patron saint of the day. When U.S. meteorology began they named hurricanes by latitude and longitude (imagine the fun those weatherman had giving the news.) Military meteorologists during WW II started naming hurricanes after women (probably in revenge for the song, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of my Hair from the musical South Pacific set during the same time period).

Anyway… this stuck until 1978 when the National Weather Service decided- huh, this sort of sends the wrong signal- and began using both men and women’s names for hurricanes on a 6 year rotational schedule. So… every six
years the same hurricane names are re-used, unless one becomes devastating (such as Katrina) in which case it is taken off the list and replaced.

Want to find out if there is a hurricane named after you? Look on the National Hurricane Center. So far, Deanne hasn’t made it on the list.