What was the name of the first hurricane to ever form?

McGruff

Until late in the 1940s, hurricanes were not officially named. Hurricane forecasting was then in its infancy. Only the most severe hurricanes were given names, and they were often named for the place they did the most damage like the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, or the time they hit like the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. US meteorologists working in the Pacific Ocean began naming tropical cyclones during World War 2, when they often had to track multiple storms. They gave each storm a name in order to distinguish the cyclones more quickly than listing their positions. The first US named hurricane (unofficially named) was George, which hit in 1947. The next one given a name was Hurricane Bess, named for the First Lady of the USA, Bess Truman, in 1949. Various naming conventions were used until the use of women's names was adopted in 1953. The names used that year were: Alice, Barbara, Carol, Dolly, Edna, Florence, Gilda, Hazel, Irene, Jill, Katherine, Lucy, Mabel, Norma, Orpha, Patsy, Queen, Rachel, Susie, Tina, Una, Vicky, and Wallis. Between 1953 and 1979, only women's names were used to name tropical storms but since 1979, men's and women's names have been alternated. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/weather/hurricane/naming.shtml The site also has a lot of hurricane links. This article tells a little more about how and when storms were first given names. http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/B1.html Sep 13 04, 10:09 PM