In what year were hurricanes first named, and what was the first name used?

Brainyblonde

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 (such as the Galveston Hurricane of 1900) or the time they hit (such as the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935). 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). http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/weather/hurricane/naming.shtml Jul 26 06, 11:07 AM

zbeckabee

Storms were often named after the fact by some particular catastrophe associated with them. The Rising Sun Hurricane of 1700 remembers the sinking of the Rising Sun and the 97 souls lost in the wreck. The destructive hurricane which struck Dominica in September 1834 became known as the Padre Ruiz Hurricane because the storm interrupted the funeral of the local priest. The use of personal names for storms appears to have its roots far from the tropical Atlantic Ocean. According to Ivan R. Tannehill's 1938 book Hurricanes, Clement Wragge, an Australian meteorologist began giving women's names to tropical storms before the end of the l9th century. Wragge also named severe non-tropical storms affecting Australia after men, usually local politicians he disliked. E.B. Buxton, a meteorologist with Pan American Airways in the late 1930s, had heard of Wragge's use of feminine names for the Australian willy-willies (as Australian hurricanes have been called) and adopted the practice for the airline's weather forecasts. Tannehill reported that Buxton later recalled using Chloe as one of the early names he used for tropical storms. http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2000/alm00jun.htm Jul 26 06, 2:26 PM

thefixxer

1953 http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/tropical/names.html http://www.atwc.org/history.txt Jul 26 06, 2:42 PM