Hurricane Nomenclature

Thanks to Rachel for the following link that tells you all the hurricane names used in the Pacific and Atlantic so far this year.

Delving deeper into the FAQs one can find out how the names are chosen and by whom.

Interestingly there has been a recent move to change the list of names used in the Northwest Pacific basin. Appropriately enough the progression is to use Asian names, as contributed by all the nations and territories that are members of the WMO's Typhoon Committee (you know...those guys).

Well that makes good sense (I suspect Hurricane Howard doesn't play so well over there), but the other changes I don't understand the reason for:

There are a few men's and women's names, but the majority are names of flowers, animals, birds, trees, or even foods, etc, while some are descriptive adjectives. Secondly, the names will not be allotted in alphabetical order, but are arranged by contributing nation with the countries being alphabetized.

A consequence of naming by committee I guess...