On this day in 1978, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it would no longer name hurricanes exclusively after women.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that charts the storms of history every day of
the week. I'm Gabe Lusier, and in this episode, we're
(00:21):
mapping the history of hurricane naming conventions, including the rise
and fall of a sexist policy that drew a direct
line between womanhood and temperamental weather. The day was May twelfth,
nineteen seventy eight. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced
(00:46):
that it would no longer name hurricanes exclusively after women.
From then on, the official storm designations would alternate between
the names of women and men. The change was made
at the direction of Commerce Secondcretary Juanita Kreps, who oversaw
the National Weather Service and its umbrella agency, the NOAA.
(01:08):
The US government had been using only women's names for
storms since the early nineteen fifties, a practice which many
feminists had long denounced as sexist. Some women's rights activists,
most notably Roxy Bolton, had spoken out against the policy
since the late nineteen sixties, but it wasn't until a
woman was placed in charge of the agency for the
(01:30):
first time that the unfair policy finally came to an end.
For centuries, weather forecasters have struggled with how to best
keep track of the many storms that pummel their corner
of the globe each year. The most basic system was
to log each hurricane or other tropical storm by the
order in which it occurred in a given year and
(01:52):
by its geographic coordinates. However, that quickly proved confusing, as
it was easy to mix up two or more storms
that occurred in the same place or at the same time.
The natural solution was to use short, distinctive names when
reporting information about a specific storm. However, there was still
no clear consensus on which names should be used. Prior
(02:16):
to nineteen fifty three, the United States had a rather
messy way of naming tropical cyclones. The year in which
they occurred was always noted in the name, but sometimes
it would be paired with a geographic location, such as
the Galveston storm of nineteen hundred, and other times it
was listed alongside a vague description of the storm's intensity,
(02:38):
like the Big Blow of nineteen thirteen. The lack of
a clear system often led to confusion, as the same
name would unknowingly be applied to multiple storms. Outside the
continental US, forecasters found more orderly solutions, such as in
the West Indies, where hurricanes were named for the Catholic Saints'
(02:59):
Day on which they they made landfall. But it was
British meteorologist Clement Ragg who began the tradition of using
first names to describe weather systems in the late nineteenth century.
Rag set up a vast network of weather stations around Queensland, Australia,
and began describing the storms he tracked using the names
(03:20):
of figures from Greek and Roman mythology. Once he tired
of that, or after he ran through all the good ones,
Rag moved on to the names of local politicians he disliked,
and then finally to the names of Pacific Island women
whom he found attractive. According to the NOAA. Rag's concept
(03:41):
later inspired American novelist George Stewart, whose nineteen forty one
book Storm included a junior meteorologist who was in the
habit of naming Pacific storms after former girlfriends. Stuart's novel
was widely read during World War II, especially by US
Army Air Corps and Navy meteorologists, who were themselves responsible
(04:03):
for tracking tropical storm movements over the Pacific Ocean, Many
of them began naming those weather systems after their wives
and girlfriends back home, presumably as a tribute rather than
an insult the National Weather Bureau. Later the National Weather
Service was placed under the purview of the Department of
Commerce in nineteen forty. Once the war was over, the
(04:26):
Bureau introduced an official storm naming system based on the
military phonetic alphabet, so Abel Baker, Charlie, Delta, etc. The
system proved confusing, however, and by nineteen fifty three, the
entire list of options had been exhausted. That's when it
was decided that the Bureau should adopt the informal policy
(04:48):
of military forecasters and start naming hurricanes after women. And
since the US was at the forefront of weather tracking
technology at the time, several other countries eventually FOUGH followed
its lead, including both Australia and New Zealand. No one's
quite sure why these nations governments felt it was okay
to use only traditionally female names, but it may have
(05:11):
had something to do with the maritime tradition of referring
to the ocean as a woman. Ships are also typically
referenced with feminine pronouns, and that too, may have played
a factor in the decision. Whatever the thinking behind it,
the shift in policy had an unfortunate effect on weather broadcasting.
Many American weathermen began talking about storms as if they
(05:35):
were actual women, and some even used sex as cliches
to describe the intense and unpredictable nature of a storm,
saying things like she can't make up her mind and
she's no lady as you would imagine. Many women meteorologists,
as well as plenty outside the profession, were offended by
(05:55):
being likened to violent, often deadly storms. The most vocal
of these detractors was the late Roxy Bolton, a Miami
based activist who helped found a series of women shelters
and rape crisis centers in Florida. As a member of
the National Organization for Women, Bolton added the issue of
hurricane names to the group's nineteen seventy agenda. That year,
(06:19):
she wrote her first of many letters to the National
Hurricane Center imploring the agency to consider changing its policy.
She also met with several directors of the National Weather Service,
famously telling them quote, women are not disasters destroying life
and communities. And leaving a lasting and devastating effect. She
(06:40):
also mused that if destructive capacity was the criteria for
naming storms, then perhaps US senators would be more appropriate namesakes. Plus,
after all, they quote delight in having things named after them.
Roxy Bolton continued her crusade throughout the nineteen seventies, voting
a tongue in cheek campaign to replace the word hurricane
(07:03):
with himicane so that people wouldn't be tempted to think
of them as women. But no matter what tactic she tried,
the US government just wouldn't budge. However, the issue would
find a new champion under the Carter administration. After taking
office in nineteen seventy seven, President Carter appointed Juanita M.
(07:24):
Krepps as his Secretary of Commerce, making her the first
woman to hold that office. Creps was familiar with roxy
Bolton's efforts, and she used her position at the Commerce
Department to help bring them to fruition. The Australian Bureau
of Meteorology had already switched to using a mix of
male and female names for tropical storms, and Creps directed
(07:46):
the NOAA to do the same. By that point, the
National Hurricane Center had handed over its naming duties to
the World Meteorological Organization, or the WMO. The agency said
it was too late to change the global tropical storm
naming policy for nineteen seventy eight, but that it would
(08:06):
do so the following year. However, Secretary Creps really didn't
want to wait and risk having the issue fall by
the wayside, so in the meantime, she had the National
Weather Service work out a deal with Mexico to change
the naming system for the Eastern Pacific region of the US,
effective immediately. That deal was announced on May twelfth, nineteen
(08:28):
seventy eight, and later that year an Eastern Pacific hurricane
became the first to bear a man's name, Bud. In
nineteen seventy nine, the various weather agencies finally got on
the same page and the new system officially took effect.
Officials started pulling from a list that included an even
split of masculine and feminine names, and in July of
(08:51):
that year, a Gulf Coast hurricane named Bob became the
first Atlantic storm to be officially designated with a traditionally
made name. Today, hurricanes continue to be named after both
men and women. The names are chosen several years in advance,
and the lists are swapped out every six years. Hurricane
(09:13):
names are rarely retired for good, but it does happen
on occasion, usually when a storm is especially deadly and
it would seem in poor taste to use the name again,
such as with Hurricane Katrina, for example. It's obviously still
a bummer to share a name with a catastrophic storm,
but thanks to the work of women like Creps and Bolton,
(09:33):
at least now it's an equal opportunity bummer. I'm Gabelusier
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more
about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments
(09:55):
or suggestions, you can always send them my way by
writing to this Day at iHeart media dot com. Thanks
to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
again soon for another day in History class.
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that charts the storms of history every day of
the week. I'm Gabe Lusier, and in this episode, we're
(00:21):
mapping the history of hurricane naming conventions, including the rise
and fall of a sexist policy that drew a direct
line between womanhood and temperamental weather. The day was May twelfth,
nineteen seventy eight. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced
(00:46):
that it would no longer name hurricanes exclusively after women.
From then on, the official storm designations would alternate between
the names of women and men. The change was made
at the direction of Commerce Secondcretary Juanita Kreps, who oversaw
the National Weather Service and its umbrella agency, the NOAA.
(01:08):
The US government had been using only women's names for
storms since the early nineteen fifties, a practice which many
feminists had long denounced as sexist. Some women's rights activists,
most notably Roxy Bolton, had spoken out against the policy
since the late nineteen sixties, but it wasn't until a
woman was placed in charge of the agency for the
(01:30):
first time that the unfair policy finally came to an end.
For centuries, weather forecasters have struggled with how to best
keep track of the many storms that pummel their corner
of the globe each year. The most basic system was
to log each hurricane or other tropical storm by the
order in which it occurred in a given year and
(01:52):
by its geographic coordinates. However, that quickly proved confusing, as
it was easy to mix up two or more storms
that occurred in the same place or at the same time.
The natural solution was to use short, distinctive names when
reporting information about a specific storm. However, there was still
no clear consensus on which names should be used. Prior
(02:16):
to nineteen fifty three, the United States had a rather
messy way of naming tropical cyclones. The year in which
they occurred was always noted in the name, but sometimes
it would be paired with a geographic location, such as
the Galveston storm of nineteen hundred, and other times it
was listed alongside a vague description of the storm's intensity,
(02:38):
like the Big Blow of nineteen thirteen. The lack of
a clear system often led to confusion, as the same
name would unknowingly be applied to multiple storms. Outside the
continental US, forecasters found more orderly solutions, such as in
the West Indies, where hurricanes were named for the Catholic Saints'
(02:59):
Day on which they they made landfall. But it was
British meteorologist Clement Ragg who began the tradition of using
first names to describe weather systems in the late nineteenth century.
Rag set up a vast network of weather stations around Queensland, Australia,
and began describing the storms he tracked using the names
(03:20):
of figures from Greek and Roman mythology. Once he tired
of that, or after he ran through all the good ones,
Rag moved on to the names of local politicians he disliked,
and then finally to the names of Pacific Island women
whom he found attractive. According to the NOAA. Rag's concept
(03:41):
later inspired American novelist George Stewart, whose nineteen forty one
book Storm included a junior meteorologist who was in the
habit of naming Pacific storms after former girlfriends. Stuart's novel
was widely read during World War II, especially by US
Army Air Corps and Navy meteorologists, who were themselves responsible
(04:03):
for tracking tropical storm movements over the Pacific Ocean, Many
of them began naming those weather systems after their wives
and girlfriends back home, presumably as a tribute rather than
an insult the National Weather Bureau. Later the National Weather
Service was placed under the purview of the Department of
Commerce in nineteen forty. Once the war was over, the
(04:26):
Bureau introduced an official storm naming system based on the
military phonetic alphabet, so Abel Baker, Charlie, Delta, etc. The
system proved confusing, however, and by nineteen fifty three, the
entire list of options had been exhausted. That's when it
was decided that the Bureau should adopt the informal policy
(04:48):
of military forecasters and start naming hurricanes after women. And
since the US was at the forefront of weather tracking
technology at the time, several other countries eventually FOUGH followed
its lead, including both Australia and New Zealand. No one's
quite sure why these nations governments felt it was okay
to use only traditionally female names, but it may have
(05:11):
had something to do with the maritime tradition of referring
to the ocean as a woman. Ships are also typically
referenced with feminine pronouns, and that too, may have played
a factor in the decision. Whatever the thinking behind it,
the shift in policy had an unfortunate effect on weather broadcasting.
Many American weathermen began talking about storms as if they
(05:35):
were actual women, and some even used sex as cliches
to describe the intense and unpredictable nature of a storm,
saying things like she can't make up her mind and
she's no lady as you would imagine. Many women meteorologists,
as well as plenty outside the profession, were offended by
(05:55):
being likened to violent, often deadly storms. The most vocal
of these detractors was the late Roxy Bolton, a Miami
based activist who helped found a series of women shelters
and rape crisis centers in Florida. As a member of
the National Organization for Women, Bolton added the issue of
hurricane names to the group's nineteen seventy agenda. That year,
(06:19):
she wrote her first of many letters to the National
Hurricane Center imploring the agency to consider changing its policy.
She also met with several directors of the National Weather Service,
famously telling them quote, women are not disasters destroying life
and communities. And leaving a lasting and devastating effect. She
(06:40):
also mused that if destructive capacity was the criteria for
naming storms, then perhaps US senators would be more appropriate namesakes. Plus,
after all, they quote delight in having things named after them.
Roxy Bolton continued her crusade throughout the nineteen seventies, voting
a tongue in cheek campaign to replace the word hurricane
(07:03):
with himicane so that people wouldn't be tempted to think
of them as women. But no matter what tactic she tried,
the US government just wouldn't budge. However, the issue would
find a new champion under the Carter administration. After taking
office in nineteen seventy seven, President Carter appointed Juanita M.
(07:24):
Krepps as his Secretary of Commerce, making her the first
woman to hold that office. Creps was familiar with roxy
Bolton's efforts, and she used her position at the Commerce
Department to help bring them to fruition. The Australian Bureau
of Meteorology had already switched to using a mix of
male and female names for tropical storms, and Creps directed
(07:46):
the NOAA to do the same. By that point, the
National Hurricane Center had handed over its naming duties to
the World Meteorological Organization, or the WMO. The agency said
it was too late to change the global tropical storm
naming policy for nineteen seventy eight, but that it would
(08:06):
do so the following year. However, Secretary Creps really didn't
want to wait and risk having the issue fall by
the wayside, so in the meantime, she had the National
Weather Service work out a deal with Mexico to change
the naming system for the Eastern Pacific region of the US,
effective immediately. That deal was announced on May twelfth, nineteen
(08:28):
seventy eight, and later that year an Eastern Pacific hurricane
became the first to bear a man's name, Bud. In
nineteen seventy nine, the various weather agencies finally got on
the same page and the new system officially took effect.
Officials started pulling from a list that included an even
split of masculine and feminine names, and in July of
(08:51):
that year, a Gulf Coast hurricane named Bob became the
first Atlantic storm to be officially designated with a traditionally
made name. Today, hurricanes continue to be named after both
men and women. The names are chosen several years in advance,
and the lists are swapped out every six years. Hurricane
(09:13):
names are rarely retired for good, but it does happen
on occasion, usually when a storm is especially deadly and
it would seem in poor taste to use the name again,
such as with Hurricane Katrina, for example. It's obviously still
a bummer to share a name with a catastrophic storm,
but thanks to the work of women like Creps and Bolton,
(09:33):
at least now it's an equal opportunity bummer. I'm Gabelusier
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more
about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
at TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments
(09:55):
or suggestions, you can always send them my way by
writing to this Day at iHeart media dot com. Thanks
to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
again soon for another day in History class.
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