New Delhi Times - Gaurav Bhatnagar reporting from New Delhi, India

With two hurricanes hitting the US in quick succession, I was wondering how are hurricanes named and if only female names are chosen. Turns out that there is a bit of history behind hurricane naming. According to this website:

Prior to 1950 storms weren't officially named at all. From 1950 to 1952 they were named simply Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George...not very imaginative, but it sufficed. From 1953 to 1978 someone (my guess a man going through a nasty divorce) decided to use only female names. Finally, in 1979, they started alternating between male and female names.

Hurricanes are named alphabetically, years in advance and starting the alphabet over each year. (If you get a Hurricane Wanda, you know you have had a busy storm season.) The Atlantic and the Pacific have separate naming lists.

Interstingly, in this year's list, Katrina and Rita were not back to back (they couldn't be because both are female names). In fact, they were seperated by Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia and Philippe. So I guess all these hurricanes never reached the shores and hence never made the news.