Science Diction

How Do You Name A Hurricane?


Listen Later

How did we wind up with a storm named Iota? Well, we ran out of hurricane names.

Every year, the World Meteorological Organization puts out a list of 21 names for the season’s hurricanes and tropical storms. But this year, the Atlantic hurricane season was so active that by September, we'd flown through the whole list of names and had to switch to the Greek alphabet. Thus, Hurricane Iota became the 30th named storm of the season.

We’ve only had to dip into the Greek alphabet once before, in 2005. But the practice of naming hurricanes goes back to the 19th century, and it was a bit of a bumpy ride to land on the system we use today. In this episode: The story of a meteorologist in Australia, a novel, and a second-wave feminist from Florida—and how they brought us hurricane names.

Guests: 

Christina M. Gonzalez is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.Liz Skilton is a historian and the author of Tempest: Hurricane Naming and American Culture.

Footnotes & Further Reading: 

For more hurricane history, check out A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin.

To learn more about Roxcy Bolton and the fight to change the naming system, read Liz Skilton’s article “Gendering Natural Disaster: The Battle Over Female Hurricane Names.”

Credits:

Science Diction is hosted and produced by Johanna Mayer. Our editor and producer is Elah Feder. We had story editing from Nathan Tobey, and fact checking by Michelle Harris. Our composer is Daniel Peterschmidt. Chris Wood did sound design and mastered the episode. Special thanks to the Florida State Library & Archives for allowing us use footage from Roxcy Bolton’s oral history interview. Nadja Oertelt is our chief content officer.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Science DictionBy Science Friday and WNYC Studios

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

598 ratings


More shows like Science Diction

View all
Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,071 Listeners

The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters by American Public Media

The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

2,994 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,791 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,745 Listeners

Selected Shorts by Symphony Space

Selected Shorts

2,797 Listeners

The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,218 Listeners

the memory palace by Nate DiMeo

the memory palace

6,862 Listeners

Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

31,972 Listeners

TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

22,146 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,319 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,593 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

11,978 Listeners

Ologies with Alie Ward by Alie Ward

Ologies with Alie Ward

23,445 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

15,883 Listeners

Unexplainable by Vox

Unexplainable

2,154 Listeners