Hurricanes are not just hurricanes. Especially not in Europe. For us it is the Zeynep low pressure area. Because: The FU Berlin has been assigning these names to low and high pressure areas for decades. But in England it is Eunice who causes fear and terror. And the Scandinavians call him Nora.
By Peter Amenda
“The names from the Wetterpate campaign are also used by the Central European group of EU weather services. But there was a problem this year, because now not only the Western European group, but also the Northern European group have each given their own names. Zeynep (weather godfather campaign), Eunice (Western Europe), Nora (Northern Europe). A completely unnecessary action by the EU weather services,” says Petra Gebauer from the Institute for Meteorology at Freie Universität (FU) Berlin.
The names for high and low pressure areas are assigned by the Berliner Wetterkarte Association together with the Institute for Meteorology at the FU Berlin as part of the Wetterpate campaign.
Anyone can apply for the selection of names. A high costs 360 euros, a low 240 euros. High pressure areas have a significantly longer lifespan and therefore remain visible longer on the weather maps, the reasoning is given.
“It’s a mess. Nobody talks to each other there. We have our fixed lists and always give names to each high and low. But we only do that for us Germans. The other countries don’t do that. The British only make names when the storm is dangerous and special, and then of course they use their names,” says qualified meteorologist Dominik Jung from wetter.net to BILD.
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“That’s a huge problem, since every language area will soon have its ‘own’ lower and upper names. This can also lead to major problems, especially confusion is possible with many lows like this series,” says climatologist DR. Karsten Brandt from Donnerwetter.de to BILD.
In addition, there are studies that show, for example, that female names (in the case of hurricanes) are taken less seriously than male names, and that alone there are more victims, says weather expert Brandt. Using only male names for hurricanes would not be fair, but actually reasonable.