'Isis' removed from 2016 list of hurricane names
Digital Reporter
Friday, April 17, 2015, 7:37 PM - Isis, the name of an Egyptian goddess, was supposed to be the name of the ninth tropical storm or hurricane to form in the eastern Pacific in 2016, but The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has pre-emptively removed it.
The organization retired the name due to its recent association with an Islamic terrorist group.
"Isis" has since been replaced with "Ivette".
“Every name that has been retired from the WMO lists for the north Atlantic and eastern Pacific before this has been due to the effects of a storm by that name," says Weather Network digital meteorologist Scott Sutherland.
"This would appear to be the first time that a name was removed for being inappropriate.”
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According to Sutherland, there are a few reasons the names of notorious storms -- Like Katrina, Andrew and Sandy -- are retired.
"Given the damage inflicted by these storms, and how they’re burned into our memories, nobody wants or needs to hear a hurricane warning come up with one of those names again," he says.
"It can not only cause people undo stress, but it’s possible some may believe that the coming storm will cause the same kind of devastation, when it could be significantly weaker.”
WHY DO HURRICANES HAVE NAMES?
Short, distinctive names are easier for the public to remember than the longitude-latitude identification method, according to the National Hurricane Center in the U.S.
Assigning a tropical storm or hurricane a name makes it easier for media outlets and government authorities to disseminate information about a storm system.
Source: WMO
