Hugo, Irene, Marilyn. The use of short, distinctive given names has been in fashion for quite a while. Names are used because in written as well as spoken communications they are quicker references and less subject to error, reducing confusion when two or more tropical storms occur at the same time.
In the past, when latitude-longitude identification methods were used, confusion was more common. Radio storm-advisory broadcasts often were mistaken for a local warning, when they concerned an entirely different storm hundred of miles away.
During the early 1950’s, the U.S. weather services began using female names for storms, leaving aside the custom of naming them after the particular saint’s day on which the hurricane began. The practice of naming hurricanes after women only came to an end in 1979, when both male and female names were included in the list for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions. |
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