How did Hurricane Gustav get its name?
“Hurricanes are named to provide easy communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches and warnings,” said Christopher Landsea of the National Hurricane Center.
“Since the storms can often last a week or longer, and more than one can be occurring in the ocean at the same time, names can reduce the confusion about what storm is being described,” Landsea said.
In 1953, the U.S. National Weather Service, which is the government agency that tracks hurricanes and issues warnings and watches, began using female names for storms.
In 1979, both women and men’s names were used.
One name for each letter of the alphabet is selected, except for the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z.
The World Meteorological Organization uses six lists of names that rotate every six years.
For example, the National Weather Services already knows the first three hurricanes of the 2009 season will be named Ana, Bill and Claudette.
In 2005, the entire list of 21 hurricane names was used, so the Greek alphabet was used for the 22nd to 27th storms of the season.
The names were Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta.
The only time a new name is added is if a hurricane is very deadly or costly, according to the WMO. The name is then retired and a new name is chosen.
For example, the name Katrina was retired by the WMO after the 2005 hurricane caused more than 1,800 deaths along the Gulf Coast.
The name Katia will be used in its place for the 2011 hurricane season.
Since 1954, 70 hurricane names have been retired.
Five names were retired during the 2005 hurricane season — Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma.
