The name Isaac is one of the original names assigned by the World Meteorological Organization to its set of six rotating sets of names for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean which were first used in 1979. As of 2012 it has yet to be retired and has been used for four storms in the Atlantic Ocean. The name was not used in 1982 and 1994.
- Tropical Storm Isaac (1988) - short-lived storm that had tropical characteristics for only 18 hours, never threatened land.
- Hurricane Isaac (2000) - reached Category 4 strength, but stayed mostly in the open sea. It caused waves that capsized a boat near Long Island, drowning one person.
- Hurricane Isaac (2006) - Category 1, passed well east of Bermuda, became extratropical near Newfoundland.
- Hurricane Isaac (2012) - a destructive Category 1 hurricane, that hit Louisiana causing over $2 billion dollars in damages.
The name Isaac has also been used for one tropical cyclone in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
- 1982's Cyclone Isaac - struck Tonga.
Famous quotes containing the words tropical, storm and/or isaac:
“Physical force has no value, where there is nothing else. Snow in snow-banks, fire in volcanoes and solfataras is cheap. The luxury of ice is in tropical countries, and midsummer days. The luxury of fire is, to have a little on our hearth; and of electricity, not the volleys of the charged cloud, but the manageable stream on the battery-wires. So of spirit, or energy; the rests or remains of it in the civil and moral man, are worth all the cannibals in the Pacific.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The victors and the vanquished then the storm it tossed and tore,
As hard they strove, those worn-out men, upon that surly shore;
Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far,
Were rolled together on the deep that night at Trafalgar!”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.”
—Bible: Hebrew Jacob, in Genesis, 27:11.
To his mother Rebekah, explaining how the blind Isaac might discover the ploy of his pretending to be Esau. “Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.” (25:27)