Monday, August 29, 2011

Hurricane Naming Trivia - Katia vs. Katrina


Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... it's time for another exciting round of "Tropical Cyclone Naming Trivia..."

I'll take "Tropical Cyclones that begin with the letter 'K' for $10,000..."

If you've been following the list of 2011 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone names, you already know that the next one in line is Katia (pronounced "kah-tee-ah").  

Take a closer look at that name:  Katia

Notice anything missing?

Kat_i_a

...you guessed it: fill in the blanks with an "r" and an "n" and you get:  Katrina!

For some background:  those wild, wacky guys at the World Meteorological Organization rotate through the same list of tropical cyclone (tropical storm and hurricane) names every 6 years.  Since the name "Katrina" was retired after the devastating event in 2005, it had to be replaced by another female name that began with the letter K.  I guess the guys sitting around the poker (er, I mean, conference room) table at the WMO just figured it would be easier to drop a couple of consonants and whammo.... we have the new name "Katia".

All jokes aside, if what I think is going to happen is going to happen, then "Tropical Depression 12" will soon be named Katia.  Depending on how strong she gets, and exactly where she tracks, she may be no laughing matter, indeed...

Stay tuned for details!


If you enjoy reading 'The Original Weather Blog', please be sure to "like" our facebook page!

No comments: