Did You Know? (Hurricane Irene the 2nd)

That a hurricane can have the same name more than once?  I was telling Joey about my experience going through Hurricane Irene while living in the FL Keys, when a coconut tree blew onto my house.  He said he didn’t think a hurricane could have the same name twice.  She does have the same name, but I know I don’t have to worry about coconut trees during this Hurricane Irene. 

Hurricane Irene was a hurricane that produced somewhat heavy damage across southern Florida during the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. The ninth tropical storm and the sixth hurricane of the season, Irene developed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 13 from a tropical wave. It moved northward, hitting western Cuba before attaining hurricane status. Irene struck Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, moved across the state, and moved northward over the Gulf Stream.

The hurricane first produced heavy rainfall across western Cuba, causing four deaths and damage. Irene was a wet Florida hurricane in October, similar to many hurricanes of the 1930s and 1940s. It later dropped 10 to 20 inches (255 to 510 mm) of rainfall in the Miami metropolitan area, causing urban flooding unseen since Hurricane Dennis in 1981. Despite being only a Category 1 hurricane, Irene caused eight indirect deaths and $800 million (1999 USD) in damage across Florida. (from Wikipedia.com)

For every year, there is a pre-approved list of tropical storm and hurricane names. These lists have been generated by the National Hurricane Center since 1953. At first, the lists consisted of only female names; however, since 1979, the lists alternate between male and female.

Hurricanes are named alphabetically from the list in chronological order. Thus the first tropical storm or hurricane of the year has a name that begins with “A” and the second is given the name that begins with “B.” The lists contain hurricane names that begin from A to W, but exclude names that begin with a “Q” or “U.”

Usually, the six lists of names for tropical storms and hurricanes repeat every six years. However, if there is an unusually large or damaging hurricane, the name is retired by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee because using it again could be considered insensitive.  I experience 3 of the now retired hurricane names while in FL (Georges, Mitch, and Floyd), so am not too worried about Irene.  Of course, I’m not in a concrete house with hurricane shutters now.

Let’s all believe this Irene will be a kinder, gentler lady.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com