If you've ever wondered why storms have names, you' re not alone. The question has left many people confused, especially considering the practice is relatively new to the UK.
Simply put, storms have names because it makes them easier to keep track of, which, in turn, helps to make the public more aware of them. The strategy was introduced by the Met Office in 2014 after the UK weather service realized how effective it's been in keeping people safe in other countries. "We have seen how naming storms elsewhere in the world raises awareness of severe weather before it strikes," Derrick Ryall, Public Weather Service at the Met Office, explained. Windstorm Abigail in 2015 was the first storm to be named in the UK, and since then, dozens of other storms have been given their own names.
While the UK has only started naming storms after people in the last ten years, the practice actually dates back to the 1800s. Hurricanes were originally named in honor of saints（圣人）in the Caribbean, with the tradition reportedly beginning with the 1825 Santa Ana Storm in Porto Rico.
Towards the end of the century, British-born meteorologist（气象学家）Clement Wragge decided to give storms female names from Greek and Roman mythology（神话）. The practice died out in the earlier years of the 20th century but restarted during World War II, when Air Force and Navy meteorologists began naming hurricanes after their beloved wives and girlfriends.
In 1953, the United States officially adopted a naming system for storms. Australia followed suit（跟着做）in 1963, as did its next-door neighbor, New Zealand. In these countries, storms are named in an A-Z pattern. Since November 2022, the US has been struck by six storms—Arwen, Barra, Corrie, Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin.
