How storm names are picked

Until the 1950s, American meteorologists identified tropical storms by the time and their location. Starting in 1953, the National Weather Service began using female names in alphabetical order.

The advantages were evident: People could identify with named storms, making it easier to communicate warnings and issue evacuation notices.

In the 1970s, feminist groups pressured the weather service to include male names, and the practice of alternating male and female names began.

The World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Nations, began coordinating storm identification in all tropical storm-prone regions in the late 1970s. Lists of names are now drawn up by WMO committees, each of which also promotes and coordinates cyclone disaster relief.

Generally, the names of storms that take many lives and devastate property are retired. Katrina, for example, will never be used again.

Names used this year for tropical storms in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic Ocean:

Arthur

Bertha

Cristobal

Dolly

Edouard

Fay

Gustav

Hanna

Ike

Names still in the queue for 2008:

Josephine

Kyle

Lili

Marco

Nana

Omar

Paloma

Rene

Sally

Teddy

Vicky

Wilfred

To see the lists of storm names for future years, and for more information, go to http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

Sources: World Meteorological Organization, National Weather Service