Hurricane Frances

[flyrr100]

Here we go again!

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics...F/301453W5.gif

[Nostromo]

How do they decide if a hurricane is male or female? Does it depend on its (un)predictability?

[Snapper]

They have a pre-determined list of names for each letter (Alex, Bonnie, Charley, Danielle, etc.) and they alternate each letter between male and female.

Earl (male) was after Danielle and Frances (female) is next.

Next for 2003 are Gaston (M) and Hermine (F) and then Ivan (M).

I think they rotate the list every few years but if a hurricane is very bad (especially involving loss of life) they replace the name next time the list cycles round after a few years. So we won't see an Andrew or Floyd again ... and almost certainly Charley will be struck off the list after seeing the damage it did.

A while ago they used to alternate between male and female each year, so some years you'd have a set of female names and the next year you'd have a set of male names.

Personally I like your idea better. [msnsmile2][msnsmile2]

Steve.

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

There's another thread about this at http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...topic_id=13405

I'll lock this one now so if anyone wants to talk about it, can they do it on the other thread so we can keep it all in one place [msnsmile]