Typhoons and Hurricanes in 2020
This is a strange year for so many reasons, including weather. In Japan, we had a long wet rainy season this year, now followed by high temperatures. This year, we had no typhoons hit the four main islands through August. Now Typhoon 10, the first to hit Japan this year, is making its way across the southern island of Kyushu.
In the United States, there are many hurricanes this year. I read that September 10th is considered the mid-point of the Atlantic hurricane season and the typical year has 12 named storms. As of September 3rd, there have been 15 named Atlantic tropical storms!
The Atlantic storms are named alphabetically, beginning with "A" every season. The names are determined in advance by the World Meteorological Organization. There are 21 possible names each season because Q, U, X, Y, and Z are skipped with few names beginning with those letters. It is not common for there to be more than 21 named storms in a year, but if all 21 one names are used in a year, the names go to the Greek alphabet. Storm 22 will be Alpha, storm 23 Beta, and so on. Since naming began, this has only happened one time, in the year 2005, when there were 28 named storms.
When storms are very deadly or costly, the names are retired and not used in future years. Some of the names retired are Irma and Maria (2017), Sandy (2012), Katrina (2005), and Mitch (1998).
7 comments:
You might find this page interesting, about how tropical cyclones are named:
http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/tropical-cyclone-knowledge-centre/understanding/tc-names/
(Tropical cyclones are the same type of storm as hurricanes and typhoons.)
Very interesting. The Asian tycoons are also given names in Western News reports, but in Japan we only call them by number. Who sets these names? I wonder what this monster of a storm is being called, I guess it will go to history and retire. Kyushu is far from us, but we will get heavy rain and winds, so stay safe.
this is fascinating. I hope that your area is free and clear of the typhoon this year.
Pamela: I hope no damage is done due to bad weather, I did see on the news about some shores in Japan are being evacuated, so sorry to hear this today.
Stay safe.
Catherine
Climate change and the storms it creates are pretty scary. They are fierce. Other weather in the USA is off kilter as well. The heat waves are numbered here in the USA. I'm not sure if there are more than normal in my new area, the the temps are certainly breaking records. Back in Indiana it continues to rain all too often. For me, I choose hot and low humidity over rain and HIGH humidity.
Be safe.
xx, Carol
Oh My! I get terrified by a standard storm, and here there are places where people experience hurricanes and typhoons!
Stay safe, Pamela!
How interesting about the storm names, I didn't know that. I hope we won't get into the Greeks this year, although by the way it's been going so far, I wouldn't be surprised!
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