The United States is suffering from the largest hurricane in 12 years – Harvey. The storm has been raging in Texas for the fourth day in a row and is expected to last as long as it does: forecasters promise a “catastrophic flood.” People in the US are already comparing Harvey to another major cyclone, Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005. Why do hurricanes happen so often? Who gives them names? Hromadske recalls the biggest storms in America.
Among all other parts of the world, North and Central America, including the Caribbean islands, suffers from hurricanes most often. This region belongs to one of the tropical cyclone basins, a natural zone where such disasters occur.
Hurricanes are not a new phenomenon in America. They began to be documented in the 1850s, but of course, they had happened before. The hurricane season repeats every year and usually lasts from early summer to late fall. Several dozen storms can occur during this period, but not all of them are large-scale.
The season usually peaks in August and September. This year’s season, according to Weather.com, is one of the most dangerous in the Atlantic since 2005.
Hurricanes have been named over the past 100 years to make them easier to identify and remember. There is a stereotype that hurricanes are named only after women, but this is true only for the first half of the twentieth century, and later men’s names were used.
Today, a special list of names is used, organized alphabetically. It is planned for six years in advance, so each future hurricane already has a name. And starting in 2022, the names will be given again. If there is a storm that causes significant damage, its name is removed from the list forever and replaced with another. For example, the name Matthew, which was given to the 2016 hurricane, will no longer be repeated – it has been replaced by Martin.