13 October 2010
Posted in
Dr. Phillips CineDome
Florence, Fernand, or Fiona? What determines the name of the latest Atlantic tropical storm?
During World War II, meteorologists started the trend when they began using female names to identify storms. This was a lot simpler than distinguishing by longitude and latitude, especially when more than one storm occurred at the same time. A few years later, the National Hurricane Center created six lists of women’s names from A to W; male names were added in 1979 to alternate with the female names (ex. Alex, Bonnie, Charley). Some hurricane names have been retired because of their severeness and replaced with other names of the same gender and beginning letter. To see if your name will be used or has been used for a storm, click here. Also, be sure to check out the latest giant screen film playing at the CineDome, Forces of Nature, featuring the biggest, baddest earthquakes, volcanoes, and storms.
Photo courtesy of NASA.
