Contact: Frank Lepore                        9/17/98
         National Weather Service
         Tropical Prediction Center / National Hurricane Center

MEDIA ADVISORY

. . . ON PRONOUNCING NAMES OF 1998'S TROPICAL STORMS,
NUMBERS SEVEN AND (POSSIBLY) EIGHT

Forecasters are wincing after hearing wild mispronunciations of tropical storms named for French "Georges" (ZHORZH) and Dutch "Hermine" (her-MEEN). Both namesakes appear on a list of names adopted for storms in the Atlantic basin. Purists wryly note that the names, which re-appear in alphabetical order every six years, have been frequently mispronounced since first adopted in 1979. Under international agreement, tropical storm names reflect the national cultures bordering the western Atlantic.

Tropical Storm Georges was named on Sept. 16, 1998 (Georges was the next name in line on the alphabetical list). Hermine is a future named-storm possibility for a current weather disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico.