Why every time when there was a new hurricane formed, a name was given to it? Who has the authority to name the hurricane? Why is it named so?
The National Hurricane Center together with the National Weather Service draws up a list each year to use in next year's hurricane season. Several years ago (perhaps a couple of decades?) all the names were female, but that was changed so that every other one has been male since then.
I suppose it's a carry-over from the long-time tradition of naming stars, planets and other stuff. You could say that most people find it easier to remember "Katrina" than, say, H2005-D or whatever number one might give it. Hans
