The Evolution of Hurricane Naming

Hurricane Katrina killed over 1, 300 people and caused $125 billion in damage.

Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast in 2012. But have you ever wondered why we

gave these deadly storms women's names in the first place? Back in 1953, the US Weather Bureau

started naming all Atlantic hurricanes exclusively after women. The reason was simple:

names were easier to remember and communicate than numbers or coordinates, especially when

tracking multiple storms at once. But here's the twist. In the 1970s, women's rights advocates

called this out as sexist, arguing it reinforced the stereotype that women are destructive

and unpredictable. The criticism worked. In 1979, the system changed to alternate between