STORM2K

For everyone's amusement a list of fictional tropical storm names. Included are the titles of the books or tv series they came from. Book titles are followed by the names of the authors.

Hurricane Adele - Clear and Present Danger (Tom Clancy)
Cyclone 'Alpha' - The Moonraker Mutiny (Anthony Trew)
Hurricane Anthony(1) - Her Name Will Be Faith (Max Marlow)
Hurricane Anthony(2) - CSI: Miami
Hurricane Barbara(1) - Her Name Will Be Faith (Max Marlow),
Hurricane Barbara(2) - Hurricane Claude (Hilbert Schenck)
Hurricane Barbara(3) - The Simpsons [(Hurricane Neddie)]
Tropical Storm Barney - Category 7: The Biggest Storm in History (Bill Evans & Marianna Jameson)
Hurricane Ben - Ghost Beyond Earth (G. M. Hague)
Typhoon Bernard - Shuttle Down (G. Harry Stein (aka Lee Correy))
Hurricane Brenda - Windfall
Hurricane Cassandra - Twisted (Jay Bonansinga)
Hurricane Catherine - The Finder [(Episode 7 of Season One: Eye of the Storm)]
Typhoon Charlie - The Iron Man (John Watson)
Hurricane Christopher - Her Name Will Be Faith (Max Marlow)
Hurricane Claude - Hurricane Claude (Hilbert Schenck)
Hurricane Dana - Hurricane (Karen Harper)
Hurricane Darlene - Twisted (Jay Bonansinga)
Typhoon Donald - The Iron Man (John Watson)
Hurricane Eduardo - Category 7: The End of the World
Hurricane Elizabeth - Storm Tracker
Hurricane Eric- Her Name Will Be Faith (Max Marlow)
Hurricane Eve(1) - Invasion
Hurricane Eve(2) - Twisted (Jay Bonansinga)
Hurricane Faith - Her Name Will Be Faith (Max Marlow)
Hurricane Fiona - Twisted (Jay Bonansinga)
Hurricane Gil - Golden Girls,Empty Nest & Nurses
Hurricane Helene - Twisted (Jay Bonansinga)
Typhoon Hercule - China Sea (David Poyer)
Hurricane Hilda - Hurricane
Hurricane Isobel - Wyatt's Hurricane (Desmond Bagley)
Hurricane James - Gale Force
Hurricane Jezebel - Snake Eyes
Hurricane Joyce - The Hermes Fall (John Baxter)
Hurricane Juanita - The Killing Storm (Katherine Casey)
Hurricane Laura - Wyatt's Hurricane (Desmond Bagley)
Hurricane Lenore - Nip/Tuck
Hurricane Little Eva - Cyclops (Clive Cussler)
Hurricane Lorna - Hungry is the Sea (Wilbur Smith)
Typhoon Louise - Tsunami (Stephen Barlay)
Hurricane Mabel - Wyatt's Hurricane (Desmond Bagley)
Hurricane Margo - On the Wings of the Storm (Richard Newhafer)
Hurricane Nicky - Second Wind (Dick Francis)
Hurricane Noelani - The Day After Tomorrow
Hurricane Odin - Second Wind (Dick Francis)
Hurricane Queenie - Summer of Storms (Judith Kelman)
Tropical Storm Renee - Seinfeld
Hurricane Robert - Family Guy
Hurricane RuPaul - Family Guy
Typhoon Rose - Typhoon (John Gordon Davis)
Hurricane Sarah - The West Wing [(Episode 7 of Season 1: The State Dinner)]
Hurricane Sheila - Second Wind (Dick Francis)
Hurricane Sigrid - Medusa's Child (John J Nance)
Hurricane Simone(1) - Category 7: The Biggest Storm in History (Bill Evans & Marianna Jameson)
Hurricane Simone(2) - Acts of Nature (Jonathon King)
Hurricane Tricia - Ice (James Follet)
Super Typhoon Viper - Hong Kong episode of Perfect Disaster

The above was derived from the following two sources:

1. HRD FAQ: What fictional books, plays, poems, and movies have been written involving tropical cyclones?

2. Wikipedia: Tropical cyclones in popular culture

Feel free to add your own.

I decided to look up one of the films on IMDB and found that they made a goof in their goofs section

Errors in geography: The storm is called "Hurricane Elizabeth" but is happening in the Pacific. What is called a hurricane in the Atlantic is called a Typhoon in the Pacific.

IMDB: Storm (Video 1999), Goofs

I thought that storms in the eastern pacific were called Hurricanes...

A little bump as I've added three more names to the list in the OP. All come from Second Wind by Dick Francis, an author more used to writing horseracing thrillers, but manages to throw in nuclear smuggling and a category 5 hurricane into an entertaining concoction.

As I mentioned in the OP, if anyone stumbles across any other names feel free to post them.

East of the dateline, yes, they are called hurricanes (meaning in both the CPAC and EPAC). West of that line, they are called typhoons.

The West Wing had a Hurricane Sara in one episode. I remember thinking how silly, the writers clearly don't do much research because there could never be a major hurricane that late into the alphabet.

Errr...I hope that last bit was sarcasm? Lest we forget Wilma, which was way further in the Alphabet than an S

HURRICANE WILMA DISCUSSION NUMBER 16 CORRECTED
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
5 AM EDT WED OCT 19 2005

...TO USE THE PROPER WORD...RELAYED...

IN ADDITION TO THE SPECTACULAR CLOUD PATTERN OBSERVED ON SATELLITE
...AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE MEASURED 168 KNOTS AT 700 MB
AND ESTIMATED A MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 884 MB EXTRAPOLATED FROM 700MB.
UNOFFICIALLY...THE METEOROLOGIST ON BOARD THE PLANE RELAYED AN
EXTRAPOLATED 881 MB PRESSURE AND MEASURED 884 MB WITH A DROPSONDE.
THIS IS ALL IN ASSOCIATION WITH A VERY SMALL EYE THAT HAS BEEN
OSCILLATING BETWEEN 2 AND 4 N MI DURING EYE PENETRATIONS. THIS IS
PROBABLY THE LOWEST MINIMUM PRESSURE EVER OBSERVED IN THE ATLANTIC
BASIN AND IS FOLLOWED BY THE 888 MB MINIMUM PRESSURE ASSOCIATED
WITH HURRICANE GILBERT IN 1988. HOWEVER...ONE MUST BE VERY CAREFUL
BEFORE IT IS DECLARED A RECORD MINIMUM PRESSURE UNTIL A FULL AND
DETAILED CALIBRATION OF THE INSTRUMENTS AND CALCULATIONS IS
PERFORMED. SO PLEASE DO NOT JUMP INTO CONCLUSIONS YET...BE PATIENT.

I know about Rita, Stan, Wilma, Beta, Paloma. Richard, Tomas. And all the rest. :p

At the time that episode came out, a decade or so ago, Wilma was unfathomable. The Sara in question was a monstrous storm that brought heavy weather to Washington DC and had caught a US Navy fleet unawares off of the Virginia coast. When the storm changed direction after they evacuated Norfolk. An S storm following a Cape Verde track? Once upon a time (when the show was produced), that was unthinkable.

Very true...but should never say never with the tropics! Just...highly, highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely

brunota2003 wrote:Very true...but should never say never with the tropics! Just...highly, highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely

Unless of course it's a 'Q' name for a storm!

Added another couple of names to the OP list, including Hurricane Juanita, a fiery Hispanic wench (Category 4) that threatens Houston. To my surprise, Barbara is shaping up as a popular name, wonder what she did to deserve that... then again there is Hanna(h)....

There was Hurricane Mel on Night Court.

AnnularCane wrote:There was Hurricane Mel on Night Court.

Back again, changed the list slightly so that where a storm name is repeated now has Hurricane <Name>(n) for it's entry. I now have two books from which it might be possible map the storms track, more on that to come.

Added two more names to the OP list. If you're wondering about 'Little Eva', this quote should explain:

"...There's a late-season hurricane moving in over the Turks & Caicos Islands. The meteorological guys christened her Little Eva because she's a small blow with a diameter no more than 60 miles wide.

Cyclops, Clive Cussler, pg 131, Sphere 1987

Just a little bump to say that the 2011 Atlantic season makes me think of the fictional one in 'Her Name Will Be Faith', even if the big storm was a little late in coming...

Look out New York!

Added another Typhoon, this time from a naval thriller set in the 1990's.

I'm going to try and create a 'best guess' track for Hurricane Faith in a few days.

Never did get round to doing that course for Hurricane Faith, but in the mean time.

Added a missnamed storm from one of those 'made for TV' thrillers. 'Hurricane' James (Named after James Cook) (It occurs near Hawaii, thus a Typhoon).

Graham1973 wrote:Never did get round to doing that course for Hurricane Faith, but in the mean time.

Added a missnamed storm from one of those 'made for TV' thrillers. 'Hurricane' James (Named after James Cook) (It occurs near Hawaii, thus a Typhoon).

Not necessarily. TC's around Hawaii are called Hurricanes. Not exactly sure where the dividing line is, but my guess is the international date line may be where they begin to be named typhoons.

vbhoutex wrote:

Graham1973 wrote:Never did get round to doing that course for Hurricane Faith, but in the mean time.

Added a missnamed storm from one of those 'made for TV' thrillers. 'Hurricane' James (Named after James Cook) (It occurs near Hawaii, thus a Typhoon).

Not necessarily. TC's around Hawaii are called Hurricanes. Not exactly sure where the dividing line is, but my guess is the international date line may be where they begin to be named typhoons.

Oops, my bad.

Found a 1986 thriller where a typhoon is used to perpetrate an insurance fraud. Bad guys claim ship sank in storm, survivors rescued by another ship. In reality the victims and the ship only existed on paper, the ship that sailed into the storm simply renamed itself.

Added a monster storm from a Wilbur Smith thriller. Features the second most dubious way to take out a Hurricane, blow up the worlds largest oil tanker and watch the fireball make the hurricane evaporate...

Now for a little challenge.

How strong would the storm in 'Gale Force' (Hurricane James) be to cause a storm surge of the size in the picture below...