Hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Sandy. The names for tropical storms might sound cutesy, but they’re not random.

哈維颶風(fēng)。厄瑪颶風(fēng)。桑迪颶風(fēng)。熱帶風(fēng)暴的名字聽起來很可愛，但它們可不是隨機(jī)取的。

Originally, hurricanes in the West Indies were named after the saint’s day when the storm hit, according to the NOAA. For instance, there have been two Hurricane San Felipes in Puerto Rico—one that hit on September 13, 1876, and another that same date in 1928.

據(jù)NOAA的消息，最初西印度群島的颶風(fēng)都是在圣日來襲的，所以人們就以颶風(fēng)來襲那天圣日的名字來命名颶風(fēng)。比如，在波多黎各就有兩個(gè)叫圣菲利普斯的颶風(fēng)，一個(gè)是發(fā)生在1876年9月13日，另一個(gè)發(fā)生在1928年的同一日期。

By the 1900s, an Australian meteorologist started a new system. Instead of naming hurricanes after saints, he started using women’s names, and the United States followed suit in 1953. By 1979, men’s names were added to the mix. So how do meteorologists pick which name to use?

到了20世紀(jì)，一個(gè)澳大利亞的氣象學(xué)家發(fā)明了新的命名方法。他不再用圣人的名字命名颶風(fēng)，而是開始使用女性的名字。美國(guó)從1953年開始也如此效仿。到了1979年，男性的名字也被加入了其中。那么，氣象學(xué)家是如何選擇用哪個(gè)名字的呢?

The World Meteorological Organization comes up with a list of names way before the storms hit. The group has six lists with 21 names each—one for every letter except Q, U, X, Y, and Z—to be used each year in the Atlantic. So some of the next Atlantic hurricane names you can expect to see are Katia, Lee, Maria, and Ophelia.

早在風(fēng)暴來臨之前，世界氣象組織就已經(jīng)列出了一份風(fēng)暴名字的名單。每年給大西洋上颶風(fēng)命名的名單分成六組，每組里面各有21個(gè)名字，除了Q, U, X, Y, Z以外的每個(gè)字母擁有一個(gè)以它開頭的名字。所以，我們可以預(yù)見的接下來發(fā)生在大西洋的颶風(fēng)的會(huì)叫卡提亞、李、瑪麗亞和歐菲利亞。

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The West coast gets its names from six different lists, which include every letter except Q and U. Every time a tropical storm hits, meteorologists take the names alphabetically down that year’s list. Some of the names for Eastern North Pacific hurricanes this year are: Hilary, Irwin, Jova and Kenneth. (If you live in a storm-prone area, learn how to prepare your house for a hurricane.)

西海岸颶風(fēng)從六個(gè)不同的姓名列表中獲得名字，除了Q和u以外的每一個(gè)字母擁有一個(gè)以它開頭的名字。每當(dāng)熱帶風(fēng)暴來臨，氣象學(xué)家就會(huì)在當(dāng)年名單上按字母順序取名。今年太平洋東北部來襲的颶風(fēng)里會(huì)出現(xiàn)這些名字:希拉里、歐文、喬瓦和肯尼斯。(如果你生活在一個(gè)風(fēng)暴頻發(fā)的地方，學(xué)習(xí)如何為室內(nèi)抵御颶風(fēng)做準(zhǔn)備。)

Once six years go by, the naming starts again with the first list. For instance, the first Atlantic’s first tropical storm was Hurricane Arlene, and that will be the name for the first hurricane in 2023, too. If there happens to be more than 21 tropical storms in one year (or 24 in the Pacific), the rest will come from the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha and going down to Omega.

一旦六年過去之后，命名就會(huì)再次從第一個(gè)列表重新開始。例如，第一大西洋的第一場(chǎng)熱帶風(fēng)暴是颶風(fēng)阿琳，這也將是2023年第一場(chǎng)颶風(fēng)的名字。如果在一年之內(nèi)發(fā)生超過21次熱帶風(fēng)暴(對(duì)于太平洋地區(qū)來說是24次)，其余名字的將從希臘字母當(dāng)中取，從阿爾法開始，一直到歐米加。

Now that the lists are established, it’s hard to change the names on them. The lists only change if there’s a particularly bad storm, which is why you won’t be seeing another Hurricane Katrina or Sandy in the future. The World Meteorological Organization decides if it will take any names off the list during its annual meeting, so no word yet on whether Harvey will make the cut for future storms.?

因?yàn)槊斜淼拇嬖?，一般很難再去更改列表上的名字。只有一種情況下，名單會(huì)有變化，就是遇到特別嚴(yán)重的風(fēng)暴時(shí)。這就是我們?cè)谖磥聿粫?huì)再聽到其他颶風(fēng)叫卡特里娜或者桑迪的原因。世界氣象組織在年度會(huì)議上決定是否要從名單上刪掉任何名字，因此目前還沒有關(guān)于哈維這個(gè)名字是否會(huì)從未來風(fēng)暴名單上刪除的消息。

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翻譯：Andrea安寧