Hell hath no fury: don’t be misled by storms taking a woman’s name
Hurricanes christened with female titles may kill more people as they are treated less seriously
THE Met Office is investigating whether deadly storms should be given female names amid concern that people may take them less seriously.
Researchers at the UK’S national weather service have been told to examine the “potential difference in public perception and response” to male and female named storms, according to documents seen by The Daily Telegraph.
It comes after US scientists claimed that hurricanes with masculine names cause fewer casualties because they are seen as more of a threat. People are therefore more likely to stay indoors, and take precautions to prevent damage, the study suggested.
Concerns were first raised at a meeting last year between the Met Office, the Environment Agency, the police and Highways England.
According to documents, officials discussed the possibility of a “detectable difference in how seriously people view storms according to whether they have a male or female name”. The suggestion was “people take greater note and perceive an event will be more serious” if it appeared more masculine.
The Met Office launched an immediate investigation, which is still ongoing. A spokesman said “robust conclusions” had not yet been reached.
In the US, some scientists claim to have already proved that the phenomenon is real, and a serious problem.
A study by the University of Illinois in 2014 found that the more feminine-sounding a hurricane’s name, the more people it killed.
Researchers analysed more than six decades of data on hurricane deaths, and questioned the perceptions of different names. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggested that changing a storm’s name from Charley to Eloise could nearly triple its death toll.
“In judging the intensity of a storm, people appear to be applying their beliefs about how men and women behave,” Prof Sharon Shavit, the study’s author, said at the time.
The study, however, was later criticised by some scientists who suggested the results were a statistical fluke.
In Britain, the picture is far from clear. In recent years the two deadliest storms both had female names, Storm Emma and Storm Doris. Both were linked to four deaths. However the overall figures show that “masculine” storms were linked to 16 deaths, two more than the “feminine” ones.
“The name of a storm is just one of many non-weather factors which need to be considered when understanding how people make decisions when dangerous storms threaten,” a Met Office spokesman said.
The Met Office began inviting the public to name deadly storms in 2015, the intention was to help raise awareness of severe weather before it strikes.