FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 3, 2014
ATLANTA – In response to the study just released from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Female hurricanes are deadlier than male hurricanes” (2014) doi: 10.1073/pnas.1402786111 , which suggested that female named storms don’t elicit enough alarm in the general populace, resulting in lower evacuation numbers, and in keeping with the practice that TWC pioneered of naming winter storms, TWC has decided to rename Northern Hemisphere tropical storms this year, using names taken from monsters and mythology.
The study found that for highly damaging storms, the more feminine the storm’s name, the more people it killed. The team’s analysis suggests that changing a severe hurricane’s name from the masculine “Charley” to the feminine “Eloise” could nearly triple its death toll.
The authors of the PNAS study said in their press release on the paper:
“In judging the intensity of a storm, people appear to be applying their beliefs about how men and women behave,” said Sharon Shavitt, a professor of marketing at Illinois and a co-author of the report. “This makes a female-named hurricane, especially one with a very feminine name such as Belle or Cindy, seem gentler and less violent.”
“If people in the path of a severe storm are judging the risk based on the storm’s name, then this is potentially very dangerous.”
Therefore, in the interest of public safety, TWC has decided to take the initiative and apply new names that will elicit action on the part of TWC viewers.
TWC spokesperson Tiffany Bleuhard said “While many people feel they can ride out storms, as we’ve seen from actual TWC operations in the field, the only people qualified to ride out hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornadoes are trained meteorologists. Our goal is to make sure that they take these storms seriously enough to heed official warnings. We feel that by giving the storms names that are appropriate to their intensity and risk, people will take them more seriously and let the experts do their jobs.”
The alphabetical list of TWC named storms for 2014 follows.
###
The Weather Company: Where the World Gets its Weather
Through The Weather Channel, weather.com, Weather Underground, Intellicast.com and third-party publishing partners, the company provides millions of people every day with the world’s best weather forecasts, content and data, connecting with them through television, online, mobile and tablet screens. Through WSI and Weather Central, the company delivers superior professional weather services for the media, aviation, marine and energy sectors. The Weather Company is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital.
TWC 2014 NAMES OF TROPICAL STORMS (with sources and translations)
Abe Sapien (Hellboy)
Beisht Kione (Irish Mythology – “The Beast With a Black Head.“)
Cyclops (one eyed monster)
Dhampir (Serbian vampire)
Ekimmu (Mesopotamian A bloodsucking ghost that resembles a pale giant with a bull’s head on its shoulders.)
Futakuchi-onna (Japanese – Woman with a second mouth on the back of her head)
Godzilla (TWC received special license for this name in exchange for promoting the movie)
Hippogriff (Renaissance invention in Orlando Furioso)
Ichthyocentaur (sea-Centaur)
Jersey Devil (Demonic dragon that was given birth to by an American living in New Jersey)
Kasha (Japanese – Cat-like demon which descends from the sky and carries away corpses)
Leviathan (Jewish – Sea monster, as seen in Job 41)
Muldjewangk (Australian Aboriginal mythology – Water monster)
Nukekubi (Japanese – Disembodied, flying head that attacks people)
Ogre (Medieval folklore – Large, grotesque humanoid)
Pollo Maligno (Colombian – Man-eating chicken spirit)
Qalupalik (Inuit mythology – Aquatic human abductor)
Rồng – (Vietnamese – Dragon)
Shen (Chinese – Shapeshifing sea monster)
Toire-no-Hanakosan (Japanese – Ghost who lurks in grade school restroom stalls)
Unktehila (Lakota – Reptilian water monster)
Vântoase (Romanian – Female bad weather spirit)
Wanyūdō (Japanese – Demon in the form of a burning ox cart with a human head)
Xing Tian (Chinese – Headless giant)
Yamata no Orochi (Japanese – Gigantic, eight-headed serpent)
Zennyo Ryūō (Japanese – Rain-making dragon)
For those who have not noticed yet, it is clearly labeled below: “This entry was posted in Humor, Satire, The Weather Channel. ”
It is entirely a satirical fabrication, but as some have noted in comments, , it’s also plausible.
If it’s humor we’re attempting, then wouldn’t the government have named the first weather monster Anthony Watts? Aren’t you a threat to public safety? 😉
It would be nice if we could rename Climate Scientists with names from Animated Comedy, TO BETTER REFLECT THE AMOUNT OF ALARM THE PUBLIC OUGHT TO HAVE IN RESPONSE TO THEIR DRIVEL, Goofy, Daffy, Elmer, Bugs, Wile-E, etc.
Today’s satire is tomorrow’s White House policy press release. Please don’t give them more ideas.
Hurricane Obama. The longest, most costly hurricane in US history.
Ric Werme said on June 3, 2014 at 6:29 pm:
Would you get out of her way if you used the last part of her name, Ball?
The only climate change I’ve seen is that the steady stream of lies that heretofore ’emanated’ from Washington, DC is now a steady-state Tsunami.
Hey really, what kind of drug can cause you to come up with a “man eating chicken spirit” hooooweee depity dog! Are we are witnessing crowd-sourced insanity? I knew a woman who was absolutely terrified of chickens. Now that I think about it, if you stop to study them they can sort of give you the willies. I have to admit, if I thought I was being chased by a man eating chicken spirit storm, hum, uh huh, I would run away for sure!
Hurricane Pollo Maligno!!! OH NO!!! RUN!!!
Wait! We’ll send Colonel Saunders to fight for us! Yay! Global Warming and Deadly Storms defeated and turned into tasty chicken! Win-Win, I say…
Hmmm- that might make a good SyFy TV movie…
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
June 3, 2014 at 7:19 pm
No, but I’d open the door for her. 🙂
Or were you talking about a Civil War era bullet, as in http://www.historynet.com/minie-ball ?
Where is Vlad the Impaler.
They forgot Cookie, he was always my favourite monster.
In the late 90s I had the opportunity to live in Japan, briefly over one summer.
At that time typhoons were called by number … that changed in 2000.
I much preferred calling the typhoons by number, as it seemed more accurate and scientific than the USA preference of human names, mostly girls names for some reason only known by NOAA.
In 2000 JMA started preferentially using human hames, like USA, for typhoons instead of numbers.
In the 90s I was an avid Anime fan. An Anime of that time had a episode about a typhoon
hitting the Tokyo Metropolitan region and a “car nut” takes to the expressways and the Police on motorcycles must pursue.
Although I did experience two typhoons, I did not have a car nor license to drive. So I cannot confirm “nuts on the roads during a typhoon” no matter the “name” nor number.
🙂
From Ric Werme on June 3, 2014 at 7:39 pm:
*sigh*
Once again, the attempted gentle prodding of interested minds into inquisitiveness and investigation by use of a curious phonetic quirk, is ruthlessly thwarted by the excessively verbose.
seems “Years of Living Dangerously”/Showtime didn’t make the Top 100 ….yet again:
3 June: TVbythenumbers: Monday Cable
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/06/03/monday-cable-ratings-love-hip-hop-atlanta-wins-night-monday-night-raw-hit-the-floor-swamp-people-more/269763/
what a production at The Atlantic! down in the comments someone links to a website that apparently debunks the claims in the article:
3 June: The Atlantic: Adam Weymouth: When Global Warming Kills Your God
Twenty-three Alaskan tribesmen broke the law when they overfished king salmon, but they claim their faith gave them no other choice.
Photos by Loren Holmes.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/06/when-global-warming-kills-your-god/372015/
Pathway said on June 3, 2014 at 8:01 pm:
Still in Moscow, last I noticed. And that’s what he wants his lovers to call him.
What do you name a hurricane to make people not want to ride it out?
How about-
IRS Audit
Proctologist Exam
Broccoli
Bad Hair Day
Accordion Band
Help me out here…
Echidna. Tethys. Circe. Hera. Medea. Medusa.
Ric Werme says:
June 3, 2014 at 7:39 pm (Edit)
Hullo, Ric. You’re a fellow wargamer. (Load up on guns, bring your friends. It’s fun to lose and to pretend.) Tell these dudes about simulation of complex, chaotic models. Explain to them about top-down modeling and storyboarding.
They can’t hear me.
They are under some mad delusion they can model climate from the bottom up using Billion-Dollar Babies. yes, they think they can do the East Front using ASL. And all they gotta do to fix it is tweak the echo fire rules. Tell them they’re barking up the wrong tree. They won’t listen to me.
What this sort of job calls for is a pencil and the back of an envelope. They can’t grasp that. They think they can somehow match complexity with complexity. Tell ’em.
So the female storms are more dangerous since people fear male storms more.
And what happens when a named storm decides it’d rather be the other type? Why are there no procedures for the storm to change its name?
Why all the hating for transgendered storms?
Come on now, you ignorant old bigots! Be progressive, Get With The NOW!
#StopStormSexDiscrimination
How about –
Ammiano, Boxer, Clinton, Eshoo, Feinstein, Hillary (second time, wait for it), Gavin, Jackson-Lee, Maxine, Newsome (so repulsive he deserves to be listed twice, but a toss up with Nancy), Pelosi, Rodham (for our first-place contestant, so truly horrible, the only one listed thrice – even beating out Harry Reid), Sheila (so scary she had to be in the list twice), Wasserman-Schultz
And of course I’m partisan today (actually, I’m always partisan), because it’s election day, so give me a break.
@ur momisugly Hoser on June 3, 2014 at 10:21 pm:
Good news on the election results from about 1AM EDT (10PM PDT)
If you like your incompetent morons, you can keep your incompetent morons.
It is sad to live in a world where appearance has (or is thought to have) more impact than facts on the behavior of people.
in australia today, the MSM is spinning the (Frank) Lowy Institute poll with headlines about how much more concerned aussies are about the URGENCY of climate change action. it’s all smoke & mirrors of course, to tie in with Australia’s upcoming votes on repealing the carbon tax. CAGW- activist ABC is even predicting our concern will go up again in next year’s Poll!
4 June: ABC: Sara Phillips: Concern for climate change is rising
With concern about climate change showing a rise for the last two years of the Lowy Poll, indications are that it will rise again in 2015.
Agreement that climate change should be addressed has not dipped below 80 per cent since the poll began, but the urgency with which it is addressed has fallen…
Back in 2006, 68 per cent of us agreed with the statement “Global warming is a serious and pressing problem. We should begin taking steps now even if this involves significant costs.”
In 2014, that’s down to 45 per cent. But it’s an increase from its all-time low of 36 per cent in 2012…
***Most commentators on the Direct Action Plan have doubted its ability to deliver emissions reductions at a reasonable cost.
Accordingly, concern about climate change has risen again this year.
By next year, we should see a rise again in concern on this measure.
The senate changes over on July 1, just days away. When the new senators take their seats on the rose-coloured leather, the house will be controlled by a motley crew of minor parties, the most significant of which is Clive Palmer’s PUPs. Mr Palmer has given no indication yet of whether his PUPs will vote for or against the repeal of the carbon tax. But given that some of Mr Palmer’s business interests lie in mining, and that he’s been loath to pay his carbon tax debt, there is a sense is that he could order the PUPs to support the repeal.
This would leave Australia’s climate commitments in the hand of the Direct Action Plan.
Given the Direct Action Plan’s current lack of support from ***independent experts and its as-yet-incomplete status, by March 2015, the policy is likely still to be settling in. No evidence of its success (or failure) would be available to assuage the concerns of the — currently 83 per cent — of Australians who believe that climate change should be addressed.
It is unlikely that by March 2015 Australians will be feeling confident that our government is sufficiently managing climate change.
If this is the case, we can expect to see the Lowy poll register another rise in concern about climate change in 2015.
http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2014/06/04/4018585.htm
Sara’s MOST COMMENTATORS links to only CSIRO as critic.
7 March: ABC: CSIRO casts doubt on key aspect of Government’s Direct Action plan
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-07/doubt-cast-on-governments-climate-change-plan/5305208
Sara’s INDEPENDENT EXPERTS links to August 2013 ABC piece:
ABC: Coalition’s direct action climate plan could cost extra $4B: new modelling
And a new analysis of that by Monash University together with projects firm Sinclair Knight Merz has found that emissions will rise under the Coalition’s plan by 9 per cent by 2020…
The Climate Institute paid for the modelling. Its CEO is John Connor.
JOHN CONNOR: This, like other independent public assessments before it, shows that unfortunately it only can achieve an increase in pollution, not a decrease…
SABRA LANE: The Opposition’s climate action spokesman Greg Hunt was travelling this morning and unavailable for interview. He told Fairfax the modelling was unprofessional, from a partisan organisation…
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3826010.htm
***Varney ignoring the WaPo/ABC/Langer Research poll this week claiming americans want CAGW action at any cost:
2 June: Times-Picayune: James Varney: President Obama vs. global warming and the people
Alarum within. Enter KING (Barack Obama). To think those were once stage directions. The play has indeed become the thing.
The glorious moment in American history when Obama was elected president is ancient history. All that calming oceans and healing planet stuff is in the past, and now instead of blind obedience he too often finds his subjects and the nobility standing athwart his noble intent.
His imperial approach to governing manifested itself in a big way this week when Obama unveiled his unilateral plan to save the earth from global warming. Or at least cripple a piece of the American energy sector because, well, global warming.
***There was no clamor or desire for this on the part of many American people — global warming consistently ranks nowhere on their list of priorities. But this unwanted and expensive gesture is of a piece with Obama’s perception of government.
For the weird truth is, at this moment, the United States has a president who doesn’t care what Americans think. He’s not interested in doing anything they want him to do. The desires and the priorities of the little people are of no moment to the great man…
The president of the United States clearly is detached, issuing royal global warming edicts that succor only a rich fringe. Barack Obama seeks to impose unilaterally a policy with huge repercussions on the American economy that would be unlikely to pass a co-equal branch of government.
What’s more, the whole exercise is pointless in terms of its alleged morally superior purpose. As no less enthusiastic an Obama cheerleader than The New York Times declared, “by itself, the president’s plan will barely nudge the global emissions that scientists say are threatening the welfare of future generations.”
This is politics without a smidgeon of progressivism. Instead, his proposals are regressive and punitive. In Shakespearean tragedies, it’s usually the king that takes the fall. Must America take the fall after destroying the notion of royal rule?
http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2014/06/president_obama_vs_global_warm.html
All of a sudden the backstory for the movie ‘Idiocracy’ seems more plausible!