Running out of hurricane names, we'll soon switch to the Greek Alphabet. That could present a proble

[mfcorey1]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/running-out-of-hurricane-names-we-ll-soon-switch-to-the-greek-alphabet-that-could-present-a-problem/ar-BB193Tk6?ocid=msedgntp

20 tropical storms and hurricanes have already been named in the Atlantic in 2020, with months left to go before the oceans finally settle. The breakneck pace of the 2020 season has far outpaced the 11-storm seasonal average that usually prevails, and nearly exhausted the list of names that can be assigned to storms this year. It’s highly likely meteorologists will have to dip into the Greek alphabet for additional storm names — but some fear this convention, as is, could be problematic.

The Greek alphabet has only been utilized once before, during the wildly infamous hurricane season of 2005. Seven major hurricanes formed, with 27 named storms spinning up between June and January 2006.

[Spazito]

1. Interesting...

I see where using the Greek alphabet could eventually be a problem if a hurricane named, say, Alpha, is destructive enough for the name to be 'retired', there is no other A name to replace it so, over time, they could end up retiring most of the Greek alphabet.

I don't understand why, once they go through the series of names they have in place for a specific year, they don't just move on to another set of names they could have in reserve.

[Klaralven]

5. They could be Greek names like Αλέξανδρος

[Spazito]

6. LOL!

That made me laugh, thanks for that.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Start naming them after fossil fuel companies -and- people fighting climate change remediation.

.

The smaller storms after smaller companies, either defunct or living firms.

Let the CAT-4 & CAT-5 storms that hit landfall be named after the large companies that are in existence.


Politicians also are added to the CAT-4 & CAT-5 list... especially to the ones that will cause damage & loss of life.

.

[crickets]

3. +1

[DFW]

4. So just use Greek names

Apollo, Bellerophon, Giorgiu, Diogenes, etc.

[chriscan64]

8. The way things are going

Hurricane Hades would fit right in.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Would it help if we only named hurricanes, not tropical storms?

Or would that just be more confusing?

Or, after exhausting the alphabet, just start over at "A" with another "A" name. Does naming matter?

I've only been "in" two hurricanes, and not really "in" those, well outside any eyes.

[Mariana]

9. Of course it would help.

There's no good reason to name a storm that has 35 mph winds, that's just being melodramatic.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. I don't think it's a problem

“I assume we’ll get to the Greek alphabet,” said Franklin. “If we have a bad one and the name has to be retired, I think [the issue] have to be taken up again. I mean you could skip [a Greek letter], but that’s sort of weird.”

What's "weird" about skipping a Greek letter? Most people couldn't get very far in the Greek alphabet anyway, apart from Greeks, and they skip letters (Q,U,X,Y,Z) in the list of Latin letters to start names with.

I think more of a problem is that Greek letters rhyme if you go a bit into the alphabet:
Beta (2nd)
Zeta (6th)
Eta (7th)
Theta (8th)

and part of the idea should be that you don't mistake one storm for another.

I recommend the Only Connect solution:

Each programme has two teams of three people competing in four rounds of gameplay. In the first three series, clues in Rounds 1 and 2 and the connecting walls in Round 3 were identified by Greek letters. In series 4 Coren Mitchell announced that this idea had been dropped, ostensibly due to viewer complaints that it was too pretentious. Henceforth Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (two reeds, lion, twisted flax, horned viper, water, and the eye of Horus) would be used instead. The show's opening sequence displayed Greek letters in the first episode of Series 4, but these were replaced with the hieroglyphs in subsequent episodes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_Connect

[JHB]

11. Just double'em up

Aalvin
Bbetty
Ccharlie
Ddoris

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. Actually, that's a good idea.

Because it would immediately tell you that we've already gone through the alphabet once and are starting again.