Hurricane Idalia? What type of name is that and how do you pronounce it
Talk about irony.
Hurricane Idalia could bring heavy rainfall, flash flooding and storm surge to Beaufort County. But the hurricane’s name? It has Greek origins meaning “behold the sun.”
Pronounced “ee-DAL-ya,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm pronunciation sheet, there are a couple of famous women who share the name.
Here is the list:
- A nickname for Greek goddess Aphrodite
- Idalia Anreus (1932–1998), Cuban actress
- Idalia Gumbs (1933–2000), Anguillan politician
- Idalia Hechavarría (born 1974), Cuban sprinter
NOAA names hurricanes because it “is quicker and less subject to error than the older, more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods,” according to their website. It also reduces confusion when multiple tropical storms are happening at once.
Mary Dimitrov
The Island Packet