Wilma!!

Now it’s Hurricane Wilma. The name tells us there have been 21 tropical storms and/or hurricanes, since hurricane names start with 21 letters of the alphabet, alternating men’s and women’s names, and this year’s were already predefined, as I explained earlier.

If Wilma is the last name on this year’s list, what will the next hurricane be called?

Well, after Wilma come Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. That is, they carry on with the letters of the Greek alphabet.

Let’s hope the last hurricane of the season is Wilma.

It’s a pity that the hurricanes with women’s names have gotten more coverage and been more destructive, but the 2005 list starts with a woman’s name, so there are 11 women’s names and 10 men’s, a small bias, though not enough to explain the coincidence. It just so happened that this year Katrina, Rita and now Wilma stood out, but it’s not that meteorologists are sexist.

The first hurricane of 2006 will be called Alberto, so it evens out, and next year there are 11 men’s names and 10 women’s, but we don’t know which hurricanes will be the most destructive.

For the curious, these are the names for 2005

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Dennis
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katrina
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rita
Stan
Tammy
Vince
Wilma

And these are the ones for 2006

Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William