Wednesday, September 15, 2004

And there's never been a Hurricane King 

I thought this article in yesterday's WSJ about naming hurricanes was funny, so I sent it to my friendly neighborhood meteorologist. He shoots me back a letter this morning with this note:
I have never understood the naming schemes anyway. In the Atlantic, where storms are likely to hit the American continent (speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, and English) and never hit Europe, many names are in French, Russian, and Swedish. For the eastern Pacific, where the storms will either hit Central America, Mexico, or move out into the ocean, there are several Italian names in the cycle.
In the western Pacific, where the strongest storms are likely and they hit Orient, the names tend to be English. I can just imagine some Chinese meteorologist trying to pronounce "Bert" or "Fred".
My friend has not had a hurricane named after him, according to this list he sent.

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