Tropical Storm Dolphin made landfall (what’s up with that expression?) in China last Sunday, causing at least 760,000 people to have to relocate. 760,000! Granted, China has a huge population, but that’s a lot of people. Terrible.
While trying not to make light of a tragic situation, can we take a step back and take a look at the name of this tropical storm? If you just read the headlines (“Dolphin Destroys City!”), it sounds like a large dolphin made landfall (there’s that expression again) and wreaked havoc on a city and its people. It reminds me of one of those old Japanese movies where Godzilla destroys Tokyo or wherever.
Everybody’s got 20/20 hindsight, but in the future naming of tropical storms, meteorologists may want to stay away from names like Dolphin, Gator, Godzilla, Shark, Pickerel, and Smog Monster. I’m okay naming a storm Flipper.
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