We're Up To K Already

Aloha Kakou:

All of this talk about Hurricane Gustav is a reminder that hurricane season is not limited to the Caribbean and to the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane season is upon us here in the Central Pacific, too. But while the Atlantic is only up to letter H for Hanna, we in the Pacific are on the letter K for Karina. Karina is passing to the south of Hawaii by about ten degrees, as illustrated by the satellite image above. Karina is indicated by the 1 on the map.

Fortunately, this year has been a very mild one for storms; the worst weather Maui has received has been a very little rain from one storm that passed east of Hawaii Island at the beginning of July.

You probably already knew this, but each geographic region has it's own name list for storms. The G storm for the Atlantic was Gustav; the G storm for the Pacific this year was Genevieve. The storm names are identified six years in advance. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has the lists so you can check to see if there's a storm with your name on it between now and 2013. The practice of naming hurricanes grew out of the storms that struck the West Indies. Those storms were named for the saints on whose day they struck.

More information on future hurricane names can be found here:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml