Hurricane Ivan, September 15, 2005. Photo by NOAA.
Although the hurricane season only officially began on June 1, we have already used names A through D. This marks the sixth consecutive year where tropical storms started early in May, underscoring experts’ predictions that we will have a very active hurricane season in 2020. This also marks the first time since 2016 that two or more named storms developed before the start of the season, and the first time since 2012 that two or more named storms formed in the month of May. In addition, this is the first season in the satellite era to have three systems form before or on June 1, as well as being the season with the earliest third named storm on record, upon the naming of Tropical Storm Cristobal on June 2. The previous record was held by 2016‘s Tropical Storm Colin, which formed on June 5. Later, on June 23, Tropical Storm Dolly was named, becoming the third earliest fourth named storm on record, behind 2012‘s Tropical Storm Debby and 2016‘s Tropical Storm Danielle.
The CSU Tropical Meteorology Project team is predicting 19 named storms in 2020, including the four named storms that have already formed (Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, and Dolly). Of those, researchers expect nine to become hurricanes and four to reach major hurricane strength (Category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, alternative plans are being made for shelter, as evacuations would be significantly hindered due to fears of contracting the virus and social distancing rules would break down when giving aid to hurricane-affected areas. Please check with your local authorities for updates.
During World War II, US Air Force and Navy meteorologists plotting storms over the Pacific needed a better way to denote hurricanes while analyzing weather maps. Many began paying tribute to their wives and girlfriends back home by naming tropical cyclones after them. In 1945 the newly formed National Weather Bureau—later the National Weather Service—introduced a system based on the military phonetic alphabet, but by 1953 the options had been exhausted. The next year, the bureau embraced forecasters’ informal practice of giving hurricanes women’s names.
By the 1960s, some feminists began taking issue with the gendered naming convention, declaring, “Women are not disasters, destroying life and communities and leaving a lasting and devastating effect.” One of these dissenters was Miami’s own Roxcy Bolton, the Florida feminist “credited with founding the nation’s first rape treatment center and who helped persuade national weather forecasters not to name tropical storms after only women,” according to her New York Times obituary (Bolton died in May 2017). “Women, Ms. Bolton said at the time, ‘deeply resent being arbitrarily associated with disaster.’”
Campaigns by Bolton and other women eventually persuaded the US to start using male names in 1979, but it didn’t happen without a fight. Some argued that male-named hurricanes wouldn’t be as feared as ones with female names—which is actually the opposite of how people react to hurricane names today, a study last year found.
Now, the National Weather Service and the World Meteorological Association have an alternating inventory of both men’s and women’s names. In recent years, the lists of names, which are predetermined and rotate every six years, have been further diversified to reflect the many regions where tropical cyclones strike. Names of devastating storms with major loss of life and economic impact, such as Katrina in 2005 and Andrew in 1992, are permanently retired by the WMO. Dorian will most likely be retired.
Today, the World Meteorological Organization assigns hurricane names in alphabetical order omitting Q, U, X, Y, and Z and alternating between male and female names. If more than 21 storms form in one season, such as in 2005, the Greek alphabet is used to name the additional storms. The 2020 hurricane names are: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, and Wilfredo.
Sources: Colorado State University Forecast
History.com
USA Today
Wikipedia
In the eye of a hurricane.