Storm names should be epic, descriptive of their force.
Something like "Thor's Breath" for example. Nobody wants to be remembered as having been killed by a "Eunice".
ronin
3:42 pm on Feb 19, 2022 (gmt 0)
My Best Man's mum is called Eunice.
Believe me, if you'd ever met her you'd realise that, for some of us, the name of yesterday's storm carried an evocation of epic and daunting power.
Sgt_Kickaxe
3:58 pm on Feb 19, 2022 (gmt 0)
Yet many didn't take the threat seriously. For those of us without an aunt Eunice... it's about as tame of a name as there is. It doesn't invoke the fear a proper storm deserves.
Just saying.
ronin
5:53 pm on Feb 19, 2022 (gmt 0)
Just saying.
Despite my tongue-in-cheek response I hear you and I take your point - it's a completely fair point.
However. I suspect that we could have called the storm Furies' Revenge or Screaming Skinflayer or Whip of Tartarus or the HellLash and many wouldn't have taken the threat seriously.
Planetary atmospheric overheating isn't a serious threat.
A globally rampant killer virus isn't a serious threat.
Child food poverty isn't a serious threat.
Plutocracy verging on Kleptocracy isn't a serious threat.
So why should some (potentially fatal) hard rain and high winds represent any sort of serious threat?
Think back to the beginning of The Great War in summer 1914 and all the cheerful promises that it would "all be over by Christmas".
The War to End All Wars wasn't a serious threat.
NickMNS
6:36 pm on Feb 19, 2022 (gmt 0)
Storms are named for convenience, to allow meteorologist and the public to easily track and differentiate between storms. During hurricane season in the Atlantic there can be several active storms occurring a the same time and over the past few years there have be well over 26 storms a season. Moreover for historical purposes, in order not confuse past storms with current new ones names are not repeated for some period.
Storm names are typically determined before the storm season even begins when it is impossible to foresee a particular storm's severity and impact. By your logic it would be equally nonsensical to name a storm "Thor's Breath" if and when it materializes it never even makes land fall. This would be certain to occur because most storms don't make land fall. The severity of a storm is communicated, in the case of hurricanes, by the category system, but for other climatic events there are other metrics used that are relevant to the type and location of the event, eg: snowfall amounts, winds speed etc...
Despite my tongue-in-cheek response I hear you and I take your point - it's a completely fair point.
It was a tongue-in-cheek observation, your response was appropriate.
You elaborated and I agree with you 100%
I realized after the fact that a name like "Thor's Breath" would alert me its relative power without scaring me, but that it may scare others. A storm having a name, for me, has lost its edge. It has been like crying wolf too often because the name doesn't convey the urgency . There must be a better way than naming them at all. Imagine being Eunice next week in class.
No offence to aunt Eunice.
lucy24
9:10 pm on Feb 19, 2022 (gmt 0)
In a different venue I observed that in Puerto Rico, productions of West Side Story must have been off the table for several years, what with the Unfortunate Implications of “And suddenly that name / Will never be the same / To me”.
Nothing to stop you from naming a tropical storm “Thor”, though. It’s a name; slot it into the rotation between Susan and Ursula.
Edit after looking up The Rules: OK, not Ursula then. Virginia.
tangor
12:18 am on Feb 21, 2022 (gmt 0)
Heh ... where I live (US southern coast, just 49 miles inland) there have been over 60 hurricanes. I have personally experienced 39 ... names don't matter, just the wind, rain, and flood tide---and time of year.
But I do like the concept of EPIC FEAR INSPIRING NAMES! Just the ticket for the news cycle. :)
