Why are tropical storms named after humans?

Question

Why are tropical storms named after humans?

Answer 1

Well they could always call them A B and C but that becomes pretty boring and repetative as time goes on...so why not hulman names, us humans would not have near the trouble identifying with the names  " Awh yes I do remember that Hurricate Hazel back in the 50's"  

Answer 2

Tropical storms are given names to distinguish between weather systems that may exist in a region at the same time.beginning in 1953,female names were routinely used.In 1975,Australia became the first country to use male names as well.The USA followed suit in 1978,using alternate male and female names.For Atlantic storms,names are alloted alphabetically,starting each year at A; they rarely get beyond M.In the North Pacific,they are named from A to Z.

Answer 3

Just a little interesting additional information... Hurricanes are actually named years in advance.  Here is the list through 2013

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

The 7 lists rotate, so 2008 list will be used again in 2014.  If the hurricane was very severe they will retire the name and replace it with a new one for the next time the list is used--example, Katrina will never be used again.  Also if they run out of names (more than 26 hurricanes in a year) they use the greek alphabet

Answer 4

Tropical cyclones are named to provide ease of communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings. Since the storms can often last a week or longer and that more than one can be occurring in the same basin at the same time, names can reduce the confusion about what storm is being described.  

Answer 5

Excerpt from cited source:

In the U.S. before the 1950s, hurricanes were identified by latitude and longitude, a system that became confusing when there was more than one tropical cyclone brewing at a time. In the early 50s, the U.S. decided to name storms using the Army/Navy phonetic alphabet, devised for World War II military communications: Able, Baker, Charlie, etc. So in 1952, the news reported on Hurricane Dog, Hurricane Easy, and Hurricane Fox. (If the tropical storm season had been busier, coast-dwellers might have been threatened by Hurricanes How, Item, Love, Sugar, Uncle, X-ray, and Zebra.)

Human beings have a long history of personifying nature (as in Thor, the Norse god of thunder), so using human names for big storms makes sense. Hurricanes that hit the West Indies in the 19th and early 20th centuries were named after saints. And in the 1940s, weather forecasters often gave hurricanes women’s names, like World War 2 fliers naming their fighter planes.

In 1953, the weather service officially switched to women’s names, and in the 1970s, men’s names were added to the mix. Which is why, today, we can be rained on by a hurricane named Richard."

[Answer: see above]

Answer 6

its easier to identify rather than using a code. Eg. Tropical Cyclone Tracy/Katrina/Larry rather than Tropical Cyclone 27HG...

also it doesn't get so confusing and its easier to track.

Answer 7

now that is a good question but i'm sorry but even i don't think i know sorry