Can someone tell me what is reason for the stupidity of giving names to tropical storms?

[RB TexLa]

The one in the Gulf just got it's name.

[Zensea]

1. I can

as soon as you tell me the point of worrying about such things.

[L. Coyote]

80. Why do people name their children? I don't get it! What for?

[azmouse]

2. Here's a explanation.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C001472/neen/hurricanes/names.why.html

Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive given names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker and less subject to error than the older more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods. These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea.

[RB TexLa]

3. One, Two, Three, Four, ... are not short and distinctive enough?

[azmouse]

5. Hey, I don't make the rules, I just report 'em.

:shrug:

[hfojvt]

6. not very distinctive

It's hard sometimes to remember what number we are on. Was that five shots, or six? Easy to make a typo too and get a six instead of a seven, and if you have other numbers in whatever message you are sending then that could get confused. It's like having a pilot named Roger or Captain Over, it just doesn't work.

[Swede]

7. Yeah,remember how three really tore up Florida?

Yeah,but that wasn't as bad as six.

[saracat]

8. Doesn't differentiate per year.Like we can differentiate between Andrew and Katrina!

What is they were both called 3? You would then have to add years and location or something!

[RB TexLa]

10. Hurricane 3 of 2005. Simple enough and avoids the stupidity of giving a name to a weather system

[NeedleCast]

18. Why is giving a weather system any more stupid

than giving a name to a car, or a type of fruit, or a brand of jeans?

"All the cool kids are wearing jeans #3 these days!"

"What the hell is this? I clearly ordered a fruit #6 for my cereal, and this is a fruit #4!"

"I drive a #8."

[RB TexLa]

20. It's not, that's why we call them hurricanes, tornadoes, cold fronts

but giving each one a personal name is what is stupid.

[NeedleCast]

22. Why?

I guess I don't understand your concern or why naming a storm is any more or less stupid than naming anything else.

[LanternWaste]

65. Isn't it simply a form of identification?

Isn't it simply a form of identification? An additional form with no substantive difference between naming it "Number Six" or "Hurricane Jennifer"?

I fondly recall my very fist car. We called it "That Piece of Crap". Although I suppose technically, we should have called it, "A Lime Green 1972 Buick Delta 88 Royal Coupe with Major Transmission Problems and a Large Hole in the Front Passenger's Floor Board"

You know, you're right! We WERE stupid for calling it "That Piece of Crap". If I ever find a time-machine, that's what I'll go back and change...

[RB TexLa]

69. A car is a material object not a formation of pressured air and water

[NeedleCast]

73. So why name the oceans?

They're just water, right, and, according to your argument, water is not a material object.

I challenge you to go stand in a hurricane and tell me it's not a material object.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

74. A hurricane is a material objected made of air and water.

So you're saying things made of solids should have names, things made of fluids should be numbered?

I live near the Pacific Ocean. Which number is that?

[RB TexLa]

75. It is named, It is a hurricane. I don't object to the naming of what the events are

it's the naming of individual events. Cold Front Jim, Tornado Sue, Hurricane Shelly, Breeze William.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

76. Why?

You've never explained yourself.

It doesn't have to do with being made of air and water after all?

[RB TexLa]

78. Find it to be silly, and plays to the lowest common dominator

I guess the only reason to put such names on specific weather events is so people who think they can't remember Hurricane #5 of 2007 can have something easier. Network night newscasts are written in 8th grade English for them so I guess it's just the way of the world.

[LanternWaste]

79. So it's ok to to name a piece of metal...

So it's not stupid to to name a piece of metal, but it is stupid to name a mass or air? You're right... that makes so much more sense, now...

:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Why is naming it stupid?

You haven't really explained why "Cathy" is worse than "Three."

[1monster]

23. Sorry, Disagree. I (and others) have a hard time remembering which

hurricane was when due to the high number we've had in the last ten years.

But give them a name, and we remember the hurricane itself.

Charley, don't remember the year, but do remember it was the first of four to hit Florida... Kittens born in our house at the height of the storm.

We also had Ivan and Frances and Jeanne. All I had to do was google and find out that it was 2004.

I do remember the specific hurricanes better by name. Frances went on for days and days, not moving much at all. Ivan hit, passed, and doubled back for a second bite of Florida...

Andrew, in August 1991 flatened Homestead, Florida.

Hugo, somewhere in the late '80s did big damage in Puerto Rico and the Carolinas.

And so on. If you said storm # whatsit in 2004, I wouldn't have a clue.

[Blue-Jay]

29. What are you? A Borg?

[jpgray]

62. Borgs will drink with you, though

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

71. Wait, is this the same guy?

Of epic "I don't drink with you" fame?

[RB TexLa]

72. Yes, I know the white woman ordered me to drink and I disobeyed her order

[NeedleCast]

15. Because when you say "Remember Hurricane Katrina"

People know which hurricane you were talking about. They're a lot less likely to remember "Hey, do you remember #17 from 2005? Or Hey, do you remember #6 from 2003?" I can see how that would become terribly confusing for meteorologists.

"Hey, lets review the data from #5."

"#5 from 2006?"

"No, #5 from 2003."

"Can we also get the data for #3 from 2003?"

That's not a conversation my poor mathmatical skills wants to be involved in.

It's just a way to define a thing and it's what's been done for awhile. I don't see a reason to mess with that particular system.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Let's have a moment of silence to remember the victims of eleven.

[havocmom]

26. Over the years, NO

We remember Andrew. We remember Katrina. Numbers? Gonna keep racking them up or start over at one each year? We don't remember numbers as well as names. Names give a clear, concise way to reference. With numbers, most people just won't know which storm someone is talking about.

[Midlodemocrat]

41. And after a particularly catastrophic storm, the name is retired.

We are unlikely to see another Katrina, or Andrew, or Hugo in our lifetimes.

[classof56]

4. At least they now have gender equality.

Used to be hurricanes were only given female names. As someone answered when asked why that was--"Well, you've never heard of a himmicane, have you?"

Sorry--couldn't resist. A little meterological humor, I guess!

Tired Old Cynic

[Bake]

9. "That bad one a couple of years ago ..." or the alternative

One word says it all: Katrina.

Bake

[treestar]

37. I wonder if the names of the more notorious ones

start getting less popular than they were before.

Probably not going to have people naming their little girls "Katrina" for a while.

[Bake]

42. I've seen no research on it

But I'd bet you're correct.

Bake

[GeorgeGist]

11. There are infinite reasons for stupidity ...

Are you sure you can't think of one?

[RB TexLa]

12. I just thought the government assumed the people were too stupid to remember numbers so they

said put a girl's name on them and then those ignorant people can remember it.

[HeeBGBz]

28. Which ignorant people are you referring to? n/t

[RB TexLa]

38. People who say they can't remember a number and a year

and having a name for a storm is easier for them to remember.

[TZ]

64. whats easier to remember..

a plain phone number, or someone's e-mail address with their name in it. For most its the name...names are much easier to recall for most....

[Xithras]

82. Names and numbers are processed by different parts of the brain.

We use numbers differently than we use names, and when we use numbers AS names it can confuse some people. I can recite pi to the 24th digit, but I couldn't tell you my mothers phone number, and I have to stop and think a second when someone asks for mine. I don't know a single phone number for anyone in my office.

On the flipside, I know all their email addresses by heart, because those addresses contain names. Different part of the brain, different part of memory.

[ThomWV]

13. What possible difference could it make - move on to something that matters

Jeesh!

[Marrah_G]

14. What a bizarre post

Why do we name anything?

:silly:

[TZ]

17. sometimes they do get "numbers" of a sort

when they run out of names..remember 2005--they went to the greek alphabet alpha, beta, gamma..etc.
I think the naming convention is really the simplest way to keep track of things.
Possibly it makes people more aware..anthropomorphizing a storm makes it more real to some, I think

[semillama]

59. Do you remember the Rollins rant about El Nino

About how a weather system that spawns such killer storms is called "The Child"?

He thinks better names for hurricanes would include "the Motherfucker" and "The First Four Black Sabbath Albums"

The quote I'm thinking of goes something like this:

Rollins (imitating a newscaster): "The First Four Black Sabbath Albums swept across Florida, leaving massive destruction in its wake."
Rollins (normal voice): DAMN RIGHT IT DID!

What a great rant.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. names avoid confusion

especially when there are multiple storms out there. Harder to mix up names like "Dean" and "Elizabeth" than Hurricane 5 or Hurrican 9.

[Mutineer]

32. Exactly.

We wouldn't to confuse them would we???

Seriously, there are two on the East Coast right now. Can you imagine how confusing if they weren't named?

[AngryAmish]

24. OK ,22, I agree with you

Everything should be numbered now.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

25. CALL CONGRESS RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!!!!!!!111!!1111111

I'M SERIES!!!!!!11111

[Ezlivin]

27. What's the stupidity of adding an apostrophe to a third-person pronoun?

The exercise is left for the reader.

[Greyskye]

34. snap

:thumbsup:

[youthere]

30. Because it helps us to get to know the storm better..

in order to foster a closer friendship.

[Greyskye]

31. Oh my!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Madspirit]

35. Can YOU tell me why this disturbs you so? That seems stranger than the naming...n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

36. Because tropical storms can do just as much damage as hurricanes:

Tropical storm Allison passed over Houston, came back and stalled.









more here---> the great flood of 2001 http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/01/flood/index17.html

[RB TexLa]

39. I'm talking about giving an individual name to any weather event

Hurricanes, tornadoes, cold fronts, brisk winds, hail stoms.

[Catherine Vincent]

40. So you don't like that they name hurricanes either?

I'll bet you're just upset that they started naming storms after men and not just women.

[RB TexLa]

43. couldn't care about the gender of the names they give them

I just find it stupid to give an individual weather event a name.

[Bridget Burke]

44. Why should we all have User Names at DU?

Some 'bot could just assign ID#'s automatically when we sign up.

(Naval meteorologists began naming storms. The Weather Service adopted the practice.)

[RB TexLa]

45. So people are the same as weather events?

Should we give the storms the right to vote? :)

[HeeBGBz]

46. Storms develop personalities as they track across the water

They are easier to talk to if they have names.

[RB TexLa]

47. Weather events don't have personalities. No more than they have a gender.

[rucky]

48. If I discovered a new comet, or sandwich, I'd want to name it, too. n/t

[Terran]

49. So it annoys you...

that doesn't make the practice "stupid", it makes you... never mind.

[_testify_]

50. Nice.

So if you don't understand something it must be 'stupid'. Do you know how ignorant that makes you sound?

I don't understand Chinese. They're stupid. Whose stupid idea was it to have a language I don't speak. Stupid heads.

[ruiner4u]

51. your stupid cause you like the mets...

i dont understand it...




:sarcasm:

:hug:

[pitohui]

52. it isn't stupid, it's a safety issue

being able to say a name instead of the old number system means that the guys in the hurricane hunter aircraft can communicate faster and more easily

as another poster says, i believe the navy discovered the use of names was much more efficient before the weather service caught on

imagine being on a small aircraft studying a storm and having to yack out a bunch of numbers instead of a name, you don't need that kind of distraction

[Bill McBlueState]

53. Let's do the same for DU threads!

This is Disappointing Thread #43069-12.

[tabasco]

54. The same reason the military gives names to objectives, routes, bases, etc.

"We will move from Patrol Base Bravo on Route Gold to Objective Zebra."

It is easier to confuse numbers than it is to interpose words.

Just easier for most humans to remember. We are not computers.

[semillama]

55. Aw, did someone just get a tropical storm named after them? n/t

[RB TexLa]

58. no, just have always found it stupid to give weather events names

[Gruenemann]

56. Reminds me of an old joke

It was suggested they name blizzards with men's names.

Why?

Because you never know how many inches you'll get or how long the SOB is going to last.

[pitohui]

57. post delivers, would read again :-) EOM

,

[canetoad]

60. Well, it's not as though

anywhere else in the world besides the USA has tropical storms that need to be identified. More fake hubris emanating from the self-styled centre of the universe?

[crispini]

61. They name typhoons too

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/typhoon-names.htm

[Beaverhausen]

63. I have to admit, you really have a way of coming up with the most crazy threads

My favorite of yours is still the one about your getting hit (and run) by a truck but not reporting it.

:rofl:

[RB TexLa]

66. There is no law requiring a victim to ever report a crime

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

81. That's true.

Although on the scale of stupidityness, I've got to say that giving a storm a proper name ranks several notches lower than getting hit by a truck and not reporting it.

Unless you got hit in the head by a truck, and then maybe it'd make sense.

[Horse with no Name]

67. Historical purposes.

If you look at the name lists...you will find we have had a storm named Katrina before we had a STORM NAMED KATRINA.
The names are only retired when it is a devastating hurricane--as I said, for historical purposes.

[jpgray]

68. Why give names to anything? Ease of identification. Your numbers system: -that's- stupidity

[Oeditpus Rex]

70. Barry Bonds hit a home run named Marvin last week

I saw it on channels 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...

[ecstatic]

77. I guess I could see how it might be irritating to be named Katrina

back in 2005. :shrug: