Names of Hurricanes

Satellite photo of Hurricane Emily near peak intensity

As my teacher was explaining about an newspaper excerpt in my German language class, she told us that hurricanes are named according to alphabet order. I’ve do some research on the internet and have found some useful facts.

Hurricanes names are chosen from a list selected by the World Meteorological Organization. The Atlantic is assigned six lists of names, with one list used each year. Every sixth year, the first list begins again. Each name on the list starts with a different letter, for example, the name of the very first hurricane of the season starts with the letter A, the next starts with the letter B, and so on. The letters “Q”, “U”, “X”, “Y” and “Z”, however, are not used.

Often when an unusually destructive hurricane hits, that hurricane’s name is retired and never used again. Since 1954, forty names have been retired. In 1996 Hurricane Luis was retired. Is your name among the currently used or retired hurricane names? (I’m not listed. I wonder if the Malays were to give name to the hurricanes… )

Hurricane Names Selected for the Atlantic Basin