Even hurricanes have their moments

My life is the calm between storms some people say. Actually I just made that up because it tied in nicely with Jamaica’s hurricane season. And so it came to pass that I entered Jamaica two days after Hurricane Dennis and leaving two days after Hurricane Emily. Thankfully both were a bit of a non-event for Jamaica.

If you have ever had to name a baby, spare a moment to appreciate the team of people that come together to name the most infamous ‘children’ in the world! This group of clucky scientists congregate at the World Meteorological Society in Switzerland. They’ve set a list of names for tropical storms all over the world through to 2011 and I note with glee that some of your names appear there. (Mine doesn’t!)

Apparently naming a hurricane was easier to help distribute information, record data and help to warn the general public. They used to only have female names until the 1970’s when due to a little pressure from the feminists, they added 50/50 male and female names to the list. The first storm in each year takes a name starting with A, and then each storm in turn takes the next alphabetical name on the list. A curious thing is how there are no names starting with Q or U. (Apologies to any Quincy’s and Ulysses’ who may be reading…)

Head to the Hurricane pages online if you need help picking a name for a troublesome baby.