Other Depressions — Page 351, Lesson 327

I want to walk you through the most dangerous part of a tropical revolving storm — the eye wall — and then explain how these storms get their names around the world. Let's start with the eye wall. In a tropical revolving storm, the eye wall is the ring of intense thunderstorms that surrounds the calm eye at the centre. This is where the most active cumulonimbus clouds — we abbreviate them as Cb's — are found. And because those Cb's are so vigorous, the eye wall is also where you find the strongest winds and the most severe turbulence. So if you ever hear a pilot or a weather briefing refer to the eye wall, understand that it is the most dangerous part of a tropical revolving storm. That's the part you want to avoid at all costs. Now, let's move on to names and nicknames. Tropical revolving storms are given different names in different parts of the world. The book mentions that Figure 19.13 shows those names and the typical movements of the storms in each region. But the key point here is the naming system itself. Within each region, and for each storm season, a series of nicknames is devised in alphabetical order. The names alternate between male and female. So, for example, the first storm in this year's season in the Caribbean might be called 'Arthur', the next one 'Betty', and the third one 'Charlie'. Then next year, the series would start with 'Annie', followed by 'Brian', and so on. This system makes it easy to track and refer to each storm without confusion. So to summarise: the eye wall is the ring of most active Cb's with the strongest winds and worst turbulence — the most dangerous part of a TRS. And the naming system uses alphabetical, alternating male and female names, resetting each season in each region.