Hurricane Arthur hit the coast of North Carolina

Hurricane Arthur hit the coast of North Carolina on 4 July 2014. It made landfall on the southern end of the barrier island with a speed of 100 miles per hour.

The Category-2 Hurricane Arthur is the first hurricane of the season. It flooded some homes and businesses, trees were toppled and initially thousands were without electricity.

Pattern of naming storms that can graduate to hurricanes
The process of naming storms started in 1953 and since then it has continued. Name of storms are kept in alphabetical order in which letters Q, U, X, Y and Z has been omitted. The international committee of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an agency of the United Nations, is the in charge that names the Atlantic tropical storms that sometimes become hurricanes. Whereas, the lists originated by the National Hurricane Center.

The process of naming the storms consider six years of lists and the list is reused every six years (2008 list is being used in 2014). Earlier, the name list featured only women’s names but in 1979 the list was updated and saw men’s names also. These names are alternate with the women’s names.

Categorisation of Storms
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale categorizes storms based on their sustained wind speed and estimates property damage.

Category 1: 74 to 95 mph. Very dangerous winds will produce some damage

Category 2: 96 to 110 mph. Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage

Category 3: 111 to 129 mph. Devastating damage will occur

Category 4: 130 to 156 mph. Catastrophic damage will occur

Category 5: 157 mph and higher. Catastrophic damage will occur