The word hurricane is derived from the Taino language of Central America and its literal translation is "god of evil."
During the 18th century, an
Australian meteorologist, Clement Wragge, began a
tradition of naming hurricanes and
tropical storms using
female names. The US
weather service began using women's names in the identification of hurricanes in 1953. This all changed in 1978 when both men's and women's names began to be used.
The year 2003 name list for hurricanes as created by the
World Meteorological Organization (for
Atlantic Ocean,
Gulf of Mexico, and
Caribbean storms only):
Ana
Bill
Claudette
Danny
Erika
Fabian
Grace
Henri
Isabel
Juan
Kate
Larry
Mindy
Nicholas
Odette
Peter
Rose
Sam
Teresa
Victor
Wanda
The letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not used because there are few names beginning with these letters.
Lists are reused every six years, but a specific name will be retired if a
storm makes
landfall and has a grave
economic impact on society.
Hurricane hazards include high winds,
tornados, heavy rain fall and
storm surges. Storm surges are by far the greatest potential for the loss of life from hurricanes. Historically 9 out of ten
victims of hurricanes died from storm surges.