Each year there is a preapproved list of tropical storm and hurricane names that has been created by the National Hurricane Center.  This started in 1953.  Interestingly it is their policy to retire any storm name, only using the name once, if the storm has been devastating.  There are six lists of names that are rotated yearly with names on the list being replaced once a name turns out to be disastrous. So, there can only be one Andrew or one Katrina.

Hurricanes are named alphabetically, starting with ‘A’ each year and continuing though ‘Z’ while omitting any name that starts with ‘Q’ or ‘U’.  Avoiding names that start with ‘Q’ or ‘U’ avoids storms or hurricanes that want to be the Queen of them all and the ones that are fickle and cannot be tracked accurately. 

Since 1953, seventy-five names have been retired.  We would expect more of the retired storms to names to start at the beginning of the alphabet versus the end as it takes a longer season, or more hurricanes in a single year to reach names like Roxanne (retired in 1995) and Tomas (retired in 2010).   Having said that, we have a disproportionate number of names that begin with the letters ‘A’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘F’, and ‘I’.   The largest contributor, at12%, of all catastrophic storms starts with the letter ‘C’ which indicates ‘how much ‘C’s like to be in charge and in control.

Closely behind the ‘C’s are the  ‘F’ and the ‘I’ at 10.6% each.  These letters enjoy being inclusive. Lastly the workaholic ‘A’ and the causes clutter to happen ‘D’ round out the names that are the most detrimental with 9% each.  These five letters have named over half  (52%) of our most distressing storms.  So, why do we keep using these letters? Why not skip them like we do the ‘U’ and the ‘Q’?

The list being used this year is the same as the list used in 2005 with five names being replaced. Gone are Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma.  In are Don, Katia, Rina, Sean and Whitney.  Hopefully we won’t have enough storms to experience Whitney as we all pay when a Whitney is upset.  Our next storms shall be named Ophelia and Philippe.  As I am writing this article, these two storms are still out too far in the ocean to tell much about them.  Due to the ‘ph’ in both of their names, I don’t expect them to behave like most storms.  ‘PH’ people are unique and don’t quite fit in with the rest, so I expect these storms to act differently than a typical storm.   Said another way, they may be called storms yet won’t really act as we expect storms to act.   Just looking at names, the next one to watch for is Tammy.

Let’s look at some recent hurricanes.  Irene is a name that wants to know everything about everyone, and wants to be included everywhere. Thus this storm would cover a huge area, wanting to be included and also wanting to know about the different areas, but does not intend to do unreasonable harm.   Said another way, Irene is a name that is not mean, but can be a busybody.  Irene wants to know what is happening to the people around her.  So, it didn’t surprise me that as a hurricane she hit seventeen states.  So what could we expect is for the storm to come in, look around and then go out without a lot of damage being caused comparative to other storms of her size.

The next storms were named Katia and Lee.  After how much damage Katrina did, would you name another storm with a name that is so close?  The only difference between Katia and Katrina are the ‘R’ and ‘N’ in Katrina.  Both letters are grounding letters that helped Katrina do so much damage on the ground.  Without these letters to ground her Katia could not come close to doing as much damage on the ground as Katrina did.  Instead Katia would be mostly wind, causing damage through the air, but not on the ground.  Both of these storms want to show their power, and will do things in the extreme, while wanting to be liked, or talked about in this case.  Yet Katia cannot hold a candle up to Katrina on the damage caused.

Lee is a different kind of storm as it is confident, sure of itself and will manifest empathy for the area that it covers.  That means, however the residents are feeling about the storm when it comes their way can manifest.  Lee will be fickle depending on what area it currently is visiting.   Scared of storms?  Your area can be hit hard with plenty of damage.  Fascinated by storms?  You can watch safely from your porch.

It is interesting to note that Typhoon Roke recently hit the tsunami affected area of Japan and blasted through causing even more damage to an already damaged area.   The name Roke starts with a caution of being raped, and just like in the name, the people of Japan were raped by this storm.