Good afternoon again. Well, with the increased activity that has been going on in the Atlantic, there has been a great deal of action at the web site. That’s why I kind of feel bad that I didn’t update things on Wednesday. One of the things that I do notice at the site during times of heavy activity is the interest in the storm names for both the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten a number of e-mails from visitors at the site asking how the names are determined, if they, the visitors themselves can suggest a name, and how, or why their name isn’t listed. Didn’t realize that people like to have their names associated with such a potentially deadly and dangerous phenomenon as a tropical storm or hurricane. This usually also happens at the beginning of each hurricane season, especially when I post the updated list of storm names.

For those of you, who may not be aware, the storm names are usually predetermined. Every year, the National Hurricane Center updates their list of storm names for the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic. These names are then used on a rotating basis every six years. In other words, there is a different list of storm names for every year during a six year period, and then the list starts over again. The only exception to the storm names is when a name is retired. When a name is retired, it is replaced by another storm name six years later.

Now, how this process came about was through an evolution that began in 1950. Prior to 1950, the only way we described notorious storms and hurricanes was by where they made landfall, the areas they affected, or the year in which they occurred. For example, the Long Island Express, or the Great Hurricane of 1938, the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, or the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Well, the forecasters realized that they needed something short and easy to remember, especially for those living in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, who may not speak good English.

Consequently, in 1950, the National Weather Service came up with a list of storm names that were all based on the way the military would describe letters in the alphabet. In other words, Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, etc. This latest for a few years until female names were used starting about 1953 or so. This process was used until the 1979 Hurricane Season when boys and girls names were alternated. Now, when the list of storm names for a particular season are exhausted, the NHC goes with a list of names from the Greek alphabet, i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. This was used several years ago during the record breaking season of 2005.

Now, the NHC gets their updated list of storm names, and suggest storms to retire to the World Meteorological Organization, which is based in Switzerland. Every year, forecasters meet here to determine, which storm names are retired. For example, last year, Hurricanes Dean, Felix, and Noel were retired from the list.