As if there wasn’t enough already going on in the world, it’s the first official week of this year’s hurricane season.
Meteorologists are watching a tropical depression that, if it strengthens, would be named Tropical Storm Cristobal, according to this year’s list of names.
The list is quite a mix.
There’s Dolly, Marco, Omar, Paulette, to name a few.
Now, if this were a hurricane-naming list from the 1950s, there would be no Marco or Omar on there.
For decades the list used only female names; it’s not completely clear why, but it may have had something to do with the old sailing tradition of referring to the sea as a woman.
Roxcy Bolton was a civil rights and feminist activist, and one from Miami, so hurricanes were definitely on her radar.
For ten years she spoke out against the way these storms were named; after all, she said, women “deeply resent being arbitrarily associated with disaster.”
Finally in 1979 Bolton and others got the National Weather Association to go back to an older policy that used a wider range of names for hurricanes. Or, as she sometimes called them, him-icanes.
So if we get to the end of this year’s list and there’s a Tropical Storm Teddy or a Hurricane Wilfred, well, now you know who made it happen.
A lot of amusement parks remain closed at present, but the European park called Walibi Holland came up with a good way to send some park vibes your way.
On their YouTube channel, they posted a video of a roller coaster ride populated entirely with teddy bears.
I’m happy to say they seemed to handle their thrill ride really, really well.
I didn’t hear any of the teddy bears scream!
A Woman to Know: Roxcy Bolton (A Woman To Know)
Knuffelberen in #UNTAMED (Walibi Holland on YouTube)
Photo via Wikicommons
