Thursday we talked about the influence of Author George R. Stewart on the naming of hurricanes and Friday we talked about the influence of the news media, but what about influences even further back in time?
Here is one theory related to religion:
“As Christianity took hold in the West Indies, memorable Caribbean hurricanes were often labeled with the name of the saint on whose day they stuck land.”
Another theory is that Australian meteorologist Clement L. Wragge was the first to begin naming tropical storms with “human” names.
“As a forecaster in 1887, Wragge began tagging personal names on to Australian weather disturbances from a wide variety of historical biblical, political, and even “alluring” names.“ The names of Xerxes and Hannibal are two examples he used. He also named “nasty storms” with the names of politicians.
“Modern hurricane researcher Chris Landsea noted that, by using such a personal naming system, Wragge could publicly describe a politician as “causing great distress” or “wandering aimlessly about the Pacific.””
Those are just a few more theories on how the naming of hurricanes began. Tomorrow I will have a look at when the names corresponding to the alphabet took effect.
Source: Freaks of the Storm by Dr. Randy Cerveny
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