MABFAN's Musings - The Greek Alphabet is Here to Stay

12:24 pm December 30th, 2005




			MABFAN's Musings - The Greek Alphabet is Here to Stay The Blog of Science Fiction Writer Michael A. Burstein

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	The Greek Alphabet is Here to Stay
	Tropical Storm Zeta has formed in the Atlantic. Anyone want to take bets on Eta, Theta, Iota, and Kappa? Tags: hurricanes, science, world-news

11 comments or post comment


	Comments

	From: britzkrieg	Date: December 30th, 2005 05:42 pm (UTC)		(link)

Oh... my...

*gasp*

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is agitating the waters with his noodly appendage! He is wrathful -- and spicy.

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From: ianrandalstrock	Date: December 30th, 2005 05:45 pm (UTC)		(link)

I'll bet against (but only because I know that any storm that forms after the start of the new year becomes the first storm of 2006, and thus would have the "A" name for next year).

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	From: mabfan	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:00 pm (UTC)		(link)

But I thought they didn't start using the new list of names until hurricane season begins. (I've emailed the NHC to ask; let's see if they respond.)

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	From: britzkrieg	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:08 pm (UTC)		(link)

I was wondering about that myself. Let us know what you learn.

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	From: fizzixrat	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:17 pm (UTC)		(link)

Well, the list of storm names appears to be by calendar year, so I'd have to say that since Zeta reached name status in 2005, it was appropriate to keep going down the list we've been using all year.

If a new one forms next week, it would presumably be Aletta.

So, have we finally entered the period of year-round tropical storms that goes hand-in-hand with global warming?

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From: sorek	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:24 pm (UTC)		(link)

no, we'll have a break where we'll have nor'easters instead.

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	From: 530nm330hz	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:33 pm (UTC)		(link)

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml says (emphasis mine):

In the event that more than 21 named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on. If a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date. For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28th, it would take the name from the previous season's list of names. If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season's list of names.

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	From: mabfan	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:36 pm (UTC)		(link)

Ah, but what about a storm that forms on midnight between December 31st and January 1st? :-)

(It is for this question that rav Gamilel was thrown out of the seminary.)

Thanks for the information; I have no idea how I missed it.

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	From: 530nm330hz	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:43 pm (UTC)		(link)

Ah, but what about a storm that forms on midnight between December 31st and January 1st? :-)

Can't happen. As the moment of midnight between two years moves from east to west, the Coriolis forces of the two years cancel each other out along that exact longitude line, making storm formation impossible except at the poles.

:-)

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From: magid	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:16 pm (UTC)		(link)

*giggles at the thought of an Iota of a storm*

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	From: sethcohen	Date: December 30th, 2005 06:56 pm (UTC)		(link)

I bet one meeelion dollars that we won't get to Omega.

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	11 comments or post comment

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