Greek alphabet

[100feettstormsurge]

Nicole Mitchell on TWC earlier today also said the greek alphabet would be used after "Wilma". Here's the greek alphabet for everyone's convenience:

Alpha
Beta
Gamma
Delta
Epsilon
Zeta
Eta
Theta
Iota
Kappa
Lambda
Mu
Nu
Xi
Omicron
Pi
Rho
Sigma
Tau
Upsilon
Phi
Chi
Psi
Omega

Maybe on Nov. 29 a "Nu" tropical storm will form.

[SamSagnella]

what an amazing season this has been. still ~3 mos to go and we're already thru 'N' ('O' in <24hrs).

[Praxus]

Has there every been a season where they ran out of 'normal' names ?

[WeatherEmperor]

Has there every been a season where they ran out of 'normal' names ?

no, but 1995 came close. The NHC went all the way up to T for Tanya.

<RICKY>

[Canelaw99]

If I'm not mistaken 1933 brought us all the way through the 21 names, but that's as close as we've gotten.

[Brent]

Beta Kappa...

Beta Gamma...

OK, I'll stop now.

[Aslkahuna]

Storms were not named in 1933. The EPAC has hit the Z name twice.

Steve

[HurricaneBill]

What happens if one of the Greek names is destructive? For example, Hurricane Alpha hit somewhere as a powerful storm. Would Alpha be retired?

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

If a greek name is destructive- they would probably pick that corresponding letter but from a different language alphabet
for the next time it is needed.

[Josephine96]

Phi Theta Kappa lol..

Sigma Delta

[therealashe]

Kappa Delta

AOT

[HURAKAN]

[Josephine96]

Mu Nu Pi.. sounds like a disease I'm sorry {drums and symbals}

[hurricanefreak1988]

What happens if one of the Greek names is destructive? For example, Hurricane Alpha hit somewhere as a powerful storm. Would Alpha be retired?

Wow, I never thought about that. Hopefully, we won't find out.

[senorpepr]

What happens if one of the Greek names is destructive? For example, Hurricane Alpha hit somewhere as a powerful storm. Would Alpha be retired?

Most likely nothing will happen. The likelihood of reusing a Greek letter is extremely low. Furthermore, under WMO guidelines, retirement is not a permenent thing anyway. Retired name cannot be used for ten years so legal and insurance issues can be settled. Therefore, essentially, even if a Greek letter would be "retired," it could be reused after 10 years and the chances of the Greek alphabet being used within 10 years is extremely low.

[caneflyer]

Most likely nothing will happen. The likelihood of reusing a Greek letter is extremely low. Furthermore, under WMO guidelines, retirement is not a permenent thing anyway. Retired name cannot be used for ten years so legal and insurance issues can be settled. Therefore, essentially, even if a Greek letter would be "retired," it could be reused after 10 years and the chances of the Greek alphabet being used within 10 years is extremely low.

I'm pretty familiar with WMO procedures and have never heard of this 10-yr rule. Do you have a reference for this?

With all due respect, your comment about "legal and insurance issues" makes no sense. With any landfalling storm that causes damage there are always "legal and insurance issues". Yet virtually all of these names are repeated 6 years later with no impact on the legal system. Names are not retired for legal issues; it is purely a cultural matter.

[senorpepr]

Most likely nothing will happen. The likelihood of reusing a Greek letter is extremely low. Furthermore, under WMO guidelines, retirement is not a permenent thing anyway. Retired name cannot be used for ten years so legal and insurance issues can be settled. Therefore, essentially, even if a Greek letter would be "retired," it could be reused after 10 years and the chances of the Greek alphabet being used within 10 years is extremely low.

I'm pretty familiar with WMO procedures and have never heard of this 10-yr rule. Do you have a reference for this?

With all due respect, your comment about "legal and insurance issues" makes no sense. With any landfalling storm that causes damage there are always "legal and insurance issues". Yet virtually all of these names are repeated 6 years later with no impact on the legal system. Names are not retired for legal issues; it is purely a cultural matter.

From http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/groun ... names.html

Whenever a hurricane has had a major impact, any country affected by the storm can request that the name of the hurricane be "retired" by agreement of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Retiring a name actually means that it cannot be reused for at least 10 years, to facilitate historic references, legal actions, insurance claim activities, etc. and avoid public confusion with another storm of the same name. If that happens, a like gender name is selected in English, Spanish or French for Atlantic Storms.

[senorpepr]

Most likely nothing will happen. The likelihood of reusing a Greek letter is extremely low. Furthermore, under WMO guidelines, retirement is not a permenent thing anyway. Retired name cannot be used for ten years so legal and insurance issues can be settled. Therefore, essentially, even if a Greek letter would be "retired," it could be reused after 10 years and the chances of the Greek alphabet being used within 10 years is extremely low.

I'm pretty familiar with WMO procedures and have never heard of this 10-yr rule. Do you have a reference for this?

With all due respect, your comment about "legal and insurance issues" makes no sense. With any landfalling storm that causes damage there are always "legal and insurance issues". Yet virtually all of these names are repeated 6 years later with no impact on the legal system. Names are not retired for legal issues; it is purely a cultural matter.

To piggy-back on my previous post...

You can see the above post reference on the 10-year rule. I cannot find the online version from the WMO, although I do have a copy in hard-back. It practically says the same thing, word-for-word.

As for the legal and insurance issues... I agree, it shouldn't make a deal, but I see what they're getting at. For a significant storm, it takes many years for claims to be made regarding a landfalling system. It's easier for both the legal/insurance claims to reference a common storm name (ie Andrew) several years after the matter without confusing it with another system of the same name.

[caneflyer]

Thank you for the reference. Clearly though, the legal/insurance issues cannot be the primary factors, or else all storms that result in insured losses (virtually every landfalling storm) would have to be retired. Only those storms causing particular devastation are ever submitted for replacement by the affected nations.

[senorpepr]

Thank you for the reference. Clearly though, the legal/insurance issues cannot be the primary factors, or else all storms that result in insured losses (virtually every landfalling storm) would have to be retired. Only those storms causing particular devastation are ever submitted for replacement by the affected nations.

True... they aren't primary factors... those would be casualities and damage, but they do play a role. Basically it is for the "back log" of claims involved with a severe storm. For instance, there were a significant number of claims associated with Andrew six years after the fact. You wouldn't see those significant numbers with Hurricane Danny (97) or a similar storm.