2023 Hurricane Names Are Out, and Half Look Like They're Mainers

Luckily, we don't suffer too badly from hurricanes.

Maine is lucky for a number of reasons when it comes to Nature's fury. We don't have much to speak of in the way of major earthquakes or tornadoes. We don't seem to have any poisonous snakes or large, threatening predators. We do get it pretty good in the snow department, but even that could be worse. we're no Colorado.

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One thing that does blow through from time to time, is the occasional leftover hurricane. In my lifetime, I can remember the tail end a few storms coming around. I remember Hurricanes David and Gloria causing some minor wind damage and tons of rain and flooding, but it wasn't anything too serious.

The 2023 storm names are out, and they're making me wonder if that's changing.

For real, as I look at this year's list of storm names, about half of them sound like someone who might live next door... Like they could all just be Mainers trying to find their way home. Sure, there's the more exotic ones like Nigel or Ophelia, but then there's a bunch of duffer names like Don and Harold.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Some of the other good Maine sounding names were Arlene, Cindy, and Vince. Like, who names a hurricane Vince? Are they just running out of names? And none of these names sound particularly badass. It's the World Meteorological Organization that chooses the names, so blame them. But check out the list from USA Today:

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harold
Idalia
Jose
Katia
Lee
Margot
Nigel
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

Does the WMO ever use a name again?

Well, that depends. If they're just run-of-the-mill hurricanes, they are up for use again after 6 years. However, if a storm causes a ton of damage/fatalities, the WMO may chose to retire a name. For instance, there will never be another Hurricane Katrina, for obvious reasons.

But still, I feel like Maine is well represented on this list. A bunch of these could be mine or your neighbors. Hopefully though, none of the ones with a Maine sounding name actually come up and beat up Maine. that would just prove Mother Nature truly hates us...