Why are storms given alternating male and female names?

All types of storms used to just be assigned a latitude-longitude number by meteorologists who were in charge of tracking them. read more

Lists of names for hurricanes alternate between male and female names. On this year's list of names for the eastern north Pacific, Patricia was preceded by Olaf (which turned to the north, far east of Hawaii, but is still a big red blob on the satellites) and presuming there's another hurricane in the region, will be followed by Rick. read more

In 1953 the National Weather Service began using female names for storms. For many years hurricanes and other tropical storms bore only girls' names. In that era when political correctness had never been heard of, the exclusively male meteorological community in the USA considered female names appropriate for such unpredictable and dangerous phenomena. read more

Storms are given names when they are deemed to have the potential to cause 'medium' or 'high' wind impacts on the UK and/or Ireland, according to the Met Office. As with the US system, the new naming system in Britain runs through the alphabet with alternate male and female names. read more