Safe from the Storm: Who gets to name hurricanes and why are some names retired?
SAFE FROM THE STORM (WAKA) – Many of us remember hurricanes Katrina or Opal. Who gets to name these storms and why are some names retired?
Storms started getting human names in the 1950s. The idea was to help track storms in the Atlanta, Caribbean and Gulf, raising awareness and to improve communication when more than one storm was churning in the waters.
The World Meteorological Organization is the group that gets to name the storms, using a list that is repeated every six years. Names that start with Q, U, X, Y or Z aren’t used.
Hurricanes that cause catastrophic damage or a major loss of life may have their name retired. That’s just what happened after Camille in 1969, Frederic in 1979, Andrew in 1992, Opal in 1995 (which went directly over Montgomery) and Katrina in 2005, to name a few examples.
Watch the video above from Action 8 Meteorologist Christopher Mathis as a National Hurricane Center expert discusses the naming of storms.
