I feel truly sorry for the inhabitants of America’s Gulf Coast and New Orleans in particular as the threat of Hurricane Gustav gets ever closer.
Bizarrely, though, it could well have been Hurricane Fay or Hanna, the two names chosen by the World Meteorological Organization either side of Mr Mahler’s first name.
In fact, for the first 25 years of naming cyclones and hurricanes, only women’s names were used – how generous of the meteorologists!
So what might be the name that becomes infamous over the next couple of years?
Well, Kates and Peters might need to watch out next year, while Fionas and Gastons are in line in 2010.
What a job, eh? Naming future tropical storms!
