WELCOME

TITLE

NAMING THE CYCLONES

M.SRIKALA

ID NO: TAD/2013-07

CONTENTS

IntroductionNeed or PurposeHistorical BackgroundProcedureRetirementCriteria

What are Cyclones? 

"Cyclone" is an intense whirl in the atmosphere with very

strong winds circulating around it in anti-clockwise direction

in the Northern Hemisphere and in clockwise direction in the

Southern Hemisphere.

Word "Cyclone" is derived from the Greek, word "Cyclos"

meaning the coils of a snake.

TROPICAL CYCLONE TRACKS FOR THE WORLD

Tropical cyclones form over tropical waters at least 80°F but not near the the equator. They move around the large subtropical high pressure areas and can leave the tropics.

NAME - PLACES

• Hurricane - Atlantic and Eastern Pacific

• Typhoon - Western Pacific

• Willy-Willies - Australian sea

• Baguis - Philippines

Tropical cyclones are named to provide ease of

communication between forecasters and the general public

regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings.

Sometimes storms can often last a week or longer

Names can reduce the confusion about what storm is being

described, as more than one can occur in the same region at

the same time.

NEED or PURPOSE

It would help identify each individual tropical cyclone.

It helps the public to become fully aware of its development.

It does not confuse the public when there is more than one

tropical cyclone in the same area.

Warnings reach a much wider audience very rapidly.

Importance for naming tropical cyclones:

Initially, people living in the Caribbean Islands would

name the storms after the saint of the day from the Roman

Catholic liturgical calendar for the day on which the

hurricane/cyclone occurred. The credit for the first usage of

personal names for weather systems, is generally given to the

Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge, who

named systems between 1887-1907. Wragge used names drawn

from the letters of the Greek alphabet, Greek and Roman

mythology and female names, to describe weather systems over

Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

  In 1953, the US weather service officially adopted

the idea and created a new phonetic alphabet (international) of

women's names from A to W, leaving out Q, U, X, Y and Z.

Subsequent protests by women's liberation bodies in the 60s

and 70s helped change the naming procedure for the storms to

include male names in 1978. r

The year's first tropical storm was given the name

beginning with the letter "A", the second with the letter "B" and

so on through the alphabet. In even-numbered years, odd-

numbered storms got men's names and in odd-numbered years,

odd numbered storms got women's names. w

There is a strict procedure to determine a list of

tropical cyclone names in an ocean basin(s) by the Tropical

Cyclone Regional Body responsible for that basin(s) at its

annual/biennial meeting. There are five tropical cyclones

regional bodies,

1) ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee,

2) WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones,

3) RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee,

4) RA IV Hurricane Committee, and

5) RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee.

Procedure for Naming of Tropical Cyclone

Figure: 2 Areas of responsibility of different RSMCs

These RSMCs monitors and predicts the tropical

cyclones over their respective regions. They are also

responsible to name the cyclones.

For North Atlantic Ocean six lists are used in rotation.

Thus, the 2008 list will be used again in 2014.

For the Eastern north Pacific Ocean the lists are also re-

cycled every six years (the 2008 list will be used again in

2014).

For Central north Pacific Ocean the names are used one

after the other. When the bottom of one list is reached, the

next name s the top of the next list. s

INDIAN OCEAN TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES

For the Indian Ocean region, deliberations for naming

cyclones began in 2000 and a formula was agreed upon in 2004. Eight

countries in the region - Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar,

Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand - all contributed a set of

names which are assigned sequentially whenever a cyclonic storm

develops

For the north Indian Ocean basin, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on

Tropical Cyclones (PTC) for the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea is the

responsible regional body.

The eight north Indian Ocean countries have prepared a list

of 64 names for the cyclones. This is a one-time use list of names.

When the last name of List 8 has been assigned, a new list will be

drawn up by the ESCAP/WMO panel.

Procedure:

1) The Panel member’s name are listed alphabetically country wise.

2) The name will be used sequentially column wise.

3) The first name will start from the first row of column one and

continue sequentially to the last row in column eight.

4) The names which have been already used from the list are

highlighted

North Indian Ocean

Contributor List 1 List 2 List 3 List 4

Bangladesh Onil Ogni Nisha Giri

India Agni Akash Bijli Jal

Maldives Hibaru Gonu Aila Kella

Mayanmar Pyarr Yemyin Phyan Thane

Oman Baaz Sidr Ward Murjan

Pakistan Fanoos Nargis Laila Nilam

Sri Lanka Mala Abe Bandu Mahasen

Thailand Mukda Khai Muk Phet Phailin

The list of tropical cyclone names for the north Indian Ocean is given below.

Contributor List 5 List 6 List 7 List 8

Bangladesh Helen Chapala Ockhi FaniIndia Lehar Megh Sagar VayuMaldives Madi Vaali Baazu HikaaMayanmar Nanauk Kyant Daye Kyarr

Oman Hudhud Nada Luban Maha

Pakistan Nilofar Vardah Titli Bulbul

Sri Lanka Priya Sama Das SobaThailand Komen Mora Phethai Amphan

The RSMC tropical cyclones New Delhi gives a tropical

cyclone an identification name from the above name list.

Tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal, located north of the Indian Ocean, is

responsible for the formation of some of the strongest and

deadliest tropical cyclones in the world. The basin is abbreviated

BOB by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the official

Regional Specialized Meteorological Center of the basin. The

Bay of Bengal's coast is shared among India, Bangladesh,

Myanmar, Sri Lanka and western part of Thailand.

The name should be short and readily understood when

broadcast. Further the names must not be culturally sensitive and not

convey some unintended and potentially inflammatory meaning.

The suggested name pertaining to India may be communicated to

Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological Department,

Mausam Bhawan, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003 for consideration

CRITERIA

Names of some storms that cause widespread damage and

deaths are usually retired and are not brought back or reused later, at

least for 10 years. These names are then replaced with new names.

The names are retired as a mark of respect to the dead. Once a name

is officially retired, it is then replaced with a name of the same gender

and beginning with the same letter. So far, since 1972, there have

been 50 names that have been retired. And, since the names in the

beginning of the alphabet get used more than those at the end, it's

more likely that those will be retired names first.

Retirement