Naming Hurricanes
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Sixty years ago, Random House published a best-selling novel that may have given the impetus to naming hurricanes: George Stewart's weather classic "Storm."

Ironically, "Storm" is not about a tropical hurricane but follows the twelve-day life of a Pacific extra-tropical storm that strikes California, circa 1935.

As the 1941 book begins, Stewart introduces the junior Weather Bureau meteorologist who has a fondness for naming storms after women. He does so because it helps him keep them straight in his mind as they move across the weather map.

He dubs the infant storm "Maria." Stewart had originally intended the name be pronounced in the soft Spanish way: "Ma-ree-a." But as the storm grows in strength and impact, he decides the storm is too rowdy for any man to embrace. So he puts the accent on the second syllable, pronouncing it "Ma-rye-a."

Beyond its stature as a 1941 best-seller however, "Storm" is believed by many to have an even more lasting claim to fame. It may have influenced the use of personal names to distinguish tropical storms. Observers cite the book's popularity as the US entered into World War II. This includes a special pocketbook edition for service personnel that inspired Navy meteorologists to assign names to Pacific tropical storms of absent girlfriends or wives. After the war, the practice moved into the Atlantic and in 1953, the official practice of naming hurricanes by women's names was adopted.

And yes, for the musical buffs listening today, the book "Storm" influenced Broadway when Lerner and Lowe added a song to their musical "Paint Your Wagon." That song? "Call The Wind Maria."

The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and supported generously by Subaru.