On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 at 10:31:00, John Hall
wrote in uk.sci.weather :


Pure guesswork: could the Germans have called it "Cynthia" but that
looks funny in French

How so?

so the French renamed in Xynthia?
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
" schreef in bericht
...

Why has the low pressure area been given a name?
__________________

It has long been the custom in Germany to give names to depressions and
anticyclones progressing in alphabetical order through the year.

Since 2002 it has been possible to "sponsor" a depression or anticyclone.
You can pay EUR 199 to give your own name - or someone else's - to a
depression

I've been giving my name to meteorlogical features for years,
and they haven't even charged me!
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl

In article ,
Paul Hyett writes:
On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 at 10:31:00, John Hall
wrote in uk.sci.weather :


Pure guesswork: could the Germans have called it "Cynthia" but that
looks funny in French

How so?

I said that it was pure guesswork on my part. But thinking about it,
isn't the "C" at the start of a word always "hard" in French, in which
case "Cynthia" wouldn't work for them?

so the French renamed in Xynthia?

--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

"John Hall" schreef in bericht
: I said that it was pure guesswork on my part. But thinking about it,
: isn't the "C" at the start of a word always "hard" in French, in which
: case "Cynthia" wouldn't work for them?

No. C is hard (= k) in French before a, o and u and soft (= s) before e, i
and y. Whether or not it is at the beginning of a word makes no
difference.

Colin Youngs
Bruxelles

"Dawlish" schreef in bericht
news:3cfda260-73b8-40d1-a549-

.... Perhaps there already is a European system and perhaps 23 depressions
had already been named this year before Xynthia.
________________________

Not perhaps - certainly. But the system is German, not European. The
names are given by the Free University of Berlin. I am not sure if there
is any formal agreement to use the German names - probably it has just
become customary in some other countries.

These are the names used so far this year
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/adopt-a-vortex/tief/

Colin Youngs
Brussels

" schreef in bericht
news:20aebab5-1e6b-439d-ab70-
: However, the year is only two months old and this depression has a
: name starting with an 'X', have there really been that many weather
: systems crossing Germany in 8 weeks?

Here is the list which shows the dates on which the names were given
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/adopt-a-vortex/tief/ .

Probably the scope of the naming covers systems that may affect Germany's
weather in some way - not necessarily passing over the country.

Colin Youngs
Brussels

"John Hall" schreef in bericht :
: Pure guesswork: could the Germans have called it "Cynthia" but that
: looks funny in French so the French renamed in Xynthia?

"Cynthia" does not look funny in French - it is a reasonably well-known name
in France as the relevant page in the French Wikipedia indicates
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia

English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia

I cannot trace the origin of the spelling Xynthia - it may be a Greek
variant. This website
http://www.slsb.lu/prospectivestudents/slsb_gb2006.pdf has an item written
by a Luxembourg student at Stirling University called Xynthia Langers - so
it is evidently a real name !

Storm Xynthia already has its own Wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xynthia_(storm)

Colin Youngs
Brussels

"Dave Ludlow" schreef in bericht

: I do wonder if we should adopt (or join in) the naming of "major
: systems". It could make life easier in years to come ("Burns Day
: storm" sounds better than "October 1987 great storm" and "Zebedee"
: might sound even better!
:
: We'd need several criteria and thresholds to be set and met or passed
: before names were applied, and they would be reuseable (but
: reserveable for major events like Xynthia). If we did it, a
: Europe-wide naming method would be best, I think
:
: I like the Atlantic Basin Hurricane naming system, though ours would
: be a bit more difficult, of course.

Some of these severe storms have been depressions with unusual names. In
the past we have had "Kyrill" and "Quimburga" and now "Xynthia". I think
Richard Dixon is the expert on this topic.

Colin Youngs
Brussels

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 at 18:59:01, John Hall
wrote in uk.sci.weather :

In article ,
Paul Hyett writes:
On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 at 10:31:00, John Hall
wrote in uk.sci.weather :


Pure guesswork: could the Germans have called it "Cynthia" but that
looks funny in French

How so?

I said that it was pure guesswork on my part. But thinking about it,
isn't the "C" at the start of a word always "hard" in French, in which
case "Cynthia" wouldn't work for them?

I wouldn't know - I got 9% in my French exam...
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

On 1 Mar, 22:06, "Colin Youngs" wrote:
" schreef in bericht
news:20aebab5-1e6b-439d-ab70-
: However, the year is only two months old and this depression has a
: name starting with an 'X', have there really been that many weather
: systems crossing Germany in 8 weeks?

Here is the list which shows the dates on which the names were givenhttp://www.met.fu-berlin.de/adopt-a-vortex/tief/.

Probably the scope of the naming covers systems that may affect Germany's
weather in some way - not necessarily passing over the country.

Colin Youngs
Brussels

Thankyou, I understand now. It seems any depression can be named, not
just the ones that pass over Germany.