This Name Norbert

 So, a new Hurricane Norbert has been bouncing around off the Pacific coast. I just read that it is still out there this Sunday afternoon, heading northwest now as a Tropical Storm and as it dissipates it may push some heavy rains over Northern Mexico and the Southern US.

As some of you know we just had a Hurricane Norbert that stopped over Alamos in 2008, and dropped over 11" in under 3 hours.

 Alamos suffered heavily.

So I wondered.......why did someone, and who was it, decide to name this new hurricane Norbert....... and I discovered some interesting information.

The World Meteorological Organization

is in charge of the name game.

WMO, which is an organization of the United Nations, has a 6 year fixed list, omitting Q, U, XY and Z, alternating girl/boy. They just run down the list, they don't have to stop and blink an eye.

 When the 6 year list is over, they start again with the first year. 

So Norbert was on the list in 2008, year six was up in 2013, and they started again this year with the first list (that would have been in 2002). 

2014 begins the cycle again and it will end in 2019.

 If there is a hurricane that causes massive destruction, Katrina for instance, it is removed completely from the list.

Isn't that interesting? Well, maybe you already knew about it, but I didn't and my whole quest was to find out why we were having another Norbert (which thankfully, we are not).

So, then, I wondered, what are we having instead.

Senor had heard at bridge that water may be released from the Mocuzarit Reservoir because it is so full.

We have never seen the reservoir with much water in it, but we have had to date, since June, 24" in our backyard, so we decide to take a little day trip and go see the Mocuzarit.

 As you can see, it is looking pretty full.

 There were 4 or 5 fishing boats out and it was the
                    prettiest we have seen it.

      The small town of Conicarit, about 500 people, 
        on the other side of the Mocuzarit, below.

 The Mayo River, as it flows from the reservoir.

 The Mayo, the foot bridge and the stone dam.

.

Back home this afternoon, I read in an online report, printed this morning by Noticieras Televisa, that 150 cubic meters per second are being released at the generating plant, which can be seen in the background in the photo above. The release is being done in preparation for the possible heavy rains from the new Norbert that could have an affect on low areas around Navajoa, Etchojoa, Huatabambpo and other agricultural areas near the coast.

So what a visual pleasure it was to see the Mocuzarit so full, with enough water that it needed to be released.

Who knows what Norbert will leave behind for Sonora as it moves farther to the north, but what a relief to know that we will not have to endure this name Norbert again for six more years.  

que le vaya bien! Linda Lou