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Climate and Weather

Wind

How do hurricanes get their names?

Since 1950, hurricane names have been officially selected from library sources and are decided on during the international meetings of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The names are chosen to reflect the cultures and languages found in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Hawaiian regions. When a tropical storm with rotary action and wind speeds above 39 miles (63 kilometers) per hour develops, the National Hurricane Center near Miami, Florida, selects a name from one of the six listings for Region 4 (Atlantic and Caribbean area). Letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not included because of the scarcity of names beginning with those letters.



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