Tropical cyclones are
named for historical reasons and so as to avoid confusion when communicating with the public, as more than one tropical cyclone can exist at a time. Names are drawn in order from predetermined lists. They are usually assigned to tropical cyclones with one-, three-, or ten-minute windspeeds of at least 65 km/h (40 mph). However, standards vary from basin to basin, with some tropical depressions named in the western Pacific whilst tropical cyclones have to have gale-force winds occurring more than halfway around the center within the Australian and southern Pacific regions.
The
official practice of naming tropical cyclones started in 1945 within the western Pacific. Naming continued through the next few years, and in 1950, names also started to be assigned to tropical storms forming in the northern Atlantic Ocean. In the Atlantic, names were originally taken from the World War II version of the
Phonetic Alphabet, but this was changed in 1953 to use lists of women's names which were created yearly. Around this time naming of tropical cyclones also began within the southern and central parts of the Pacific. However naming did not begin in the eastern Pacific until 1960, with the original naming lists designed to be used year after year in sequence. In 1960, naming also began in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and in 1963 the
Philippine Meteorological Service started assigning names to tropical cyclones that moved into or formed in their area of responsibility. Later in 1963, warning centers within the Australian region also commenced naming tropical cyclones. In 2004, the
India Meteorological Department began naming cyclones that formed in the northern Indian Ocean, and in 2011, the
Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center started using a naming list to name tropical cyclones over the southern Atlantic Ocean.
North Atlantic
By 1950, tropical cyclones that were judged by the US Weather Bureau to have intensified into a
tropical storm started to be assigned names.[1][2] Storms were originally named in alphabetical order using the World War II version of the
Phonetic Alphabet.[1] By 1952 a new
phonetic alphabet had been developed and this led to confusion as some parties wanted to use the newer phonetic alphabet.[1] In 1953, to alleviate any confusion, forecasters decided to use a set of 23 feminine names.[1][2] After the
1953 Atlantic hurricane season, public reception to the idea seemed favorable, so the same list was adopted for the next year with one change: Gilda for Gail.[1] However, after storms like Carol and Hazel got a lot of publicity during the 1953 season, forecasters agreed to develop a new set of names for 1955.[1] However, before this could happen, a tropical storm was declared significant on January 2, 1955, and was named as Alice.[1] The new set of names were developed and used in 1955 beginning with Brenda continuing through the alphabet to Zelda.[1] For each season before 1960, a new set of names was developed.[1] In 1960 forecasters decided to begin rotating names in a regular sequence and thus four alphabetical lists were established to be repeated every four years.[3] The sets followed the example of the western Pacific typhoon naming lists and excluded names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z.[3] These four lists were used until 1972 when the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) replaced them with 9 lists designed to be used from 1972.[3] Also in 1972,
subtropical cyclones began receiving names from a separate naming list using the
NATO phonetic alphabet. The policy at that time indicated that if a subtropical storm transitioned into a fully tropical system it would receive a second name from the main list, as seen with
Hurricane Fran in 1973, which was initially referred to as Subtropical Storm Bravo. This practice was later discontinued after the 1973 season, with subtropical storms receiving numbers rather than names.[4] In 1977, NOAA made the decision to relinquish control over the name selection by allowing a regional committee of the
World Meteorological Organization to select the new sets of names, which would contain male names and some Spanish and French names, in order to reflect all the cultures and languages within the Atlantic Ocean.[2][3] The
World Meteorological Organization decided that the new lists of hurricane name would start to be used in 1979.[2][3] Since 1979 the same lists have been used, but with names of significant tropical cyclones removed from the lists and replaced with new names.[2] In 2002, subtropical cyclones started to be assigned names from the main list of names set up for that year. In 2005 and 2020, as all the names pre-selected for the season were exhausted, the contingency plan of using letters from the
Greek alphabet as names had to be used.[5] The original WMO policy of naming storms with Greek letters stated that if a storm was destructive enough to warrant retirement of the name, the Greek letter would be used again, but the name, with the year after it, would be included in the list of retired names; for example, "Alpha (2005)" would be listed under retired names, but Alpha could still be used again in later seasons. However, following the devastation wrought by hurricanes
Eta and
Iota in 2020, the former policy was rejected, and it was decided that Eta and Iota would be permanently retired, and that the Greek alphabet would be discontinued and replaced with an auxiliary name list,[6] which has not yet been used.
Within the Eastern Pacific basin between the western coasts of the Americas and 140°W the naming of tropical cyclones started in 1960, with four lists of female names initially designed to be used consecutively before being repeated.[32][33] In 1965 after two lists of names had been used, it was decided to return to the top of the second list and start recycling the sets of names on an annual basis.[33][34] In 1977, after protests by various women's rights groups, NOAA made the decision to relinquish control over the name selection by allowing a regional committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to select new sets of names.[3] The WMO selected six lists of names which contained male names and rotated every six years.[3] They also decided that the new lists of hurricane name would start to be used in 1978 which was a year earlier than the Atlantic.[35] Since 1978 the same lists of names have been used, with names of significant tropical cyclones removed from the lists and replaced with new names.[33] As in the Atlantic basin should the names preselected for the season be exhausted, the contingency plan of using Greek letters for names would be used.[33][36] However unlike in the Atlantic basin the contingency plan has never had to be used, although in 1985 to avoid using the contingency plan, the letters X, Y, and Z were added to the lists.[36] Since the contingency plan had to be used in the North Atlantic during 2005 there have been a few attempts to get rid of the Greek names as they are seen to be inconsistent with the standard naming convention used for tropical cyclones and are generally unknown and confusing to the public. In wake of the
2020 Atlantic hurricane season with
Hurricane Iota and
Hurricane Eta the
World Meteorological Organization decided to stop using the Greek letter naming system in the Eastern Pacific as well despite never being used in the basin, it was replaced with a new
supplemental naming system different from the Atlantic's list.[6]
In 1950 a tropical cyclone that affected Hawaii was named Able, after a tropical cyclone had not affected Hawaii for a number of years.[39][40] The system was also named Salome by the Air Weather Service Office in Guam, before it became widely known as Hurricane Hiki.[39][40][41] Typhoon Olive of 1952 developed within the Central Pacific, but was not named until it had crossed the International Dateline and moved into the Western Pacific basin.[39][42] During 1957, three other tropical cyclones developed in the Central Pacific and were named Kanoa, Della and Nina, by the Hawaiian military meteorological offices.[42] It was subsequently decided that future tropical cyclones, would be named by borrowing names from the Western Pacific naming lists.[42] Hawaiian names were reinstated for the lists during 1979, with 5 sets of names drafted using only the 12 letters of the Hawaiian alphabet, with the intent being to use the sets of names on an annual rotation basis.[34][43] However, after no storms had developed in this region between 1979 and 1981, the annual lists were scrapped and replaced with four sets of names and designed to be used consecutively.[34] Ahead of the
2007 hurricane season, the
Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) introduced a revised set of Hawaiian names for the Central Pacific, after they had worked with the
University of HawaiiHawaiian Studies Department to ensure the correct meaning and appropriate historical and cultural use of the names.[44]
On January 1, 2000, the
Japan Meteorological Agency, as the official Regional Specialized Meteorological Center, took over the naming of tropical cyclones in this basin. The names selected by the World Meteorological Organization's Typhoon Committee were from a pool of names submitted by the various countries that make up the Typhoon Committee.
Since 1963, the
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), have assigned their own names to typhoons that pass through its area of responsibility.[46] Unlike the
World Meteorological Organization's standard of assigning names to tropical cyclones when they reach wind-speeds of 65 km/h (40 mph), PAGASA assigns a name to a tropical depression when they either form or move into their area of responsibility.[46][47] Four sets of tropical cyclone names are rotated annually with typhoon names stricken from the list should they do more than 1 billion pesos worth of damage to the Philippines and/or cause 300 or more deaths.[48][49] Should the list of names for a given year prove insufficient, names are taken from an auxiliary list.[48]
At its 27th annual session in February and March 2000, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on North Indian Tropical Cyclones discussed the contents of a report, it had commissioned on the naming of tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.[62] It agreed in principle with the report's recommendation that there was a need for tropical cyclones to be named in its region, however, the representatives of India expressed concern at naming tropical cyclones, because of the regional, cultural and linguistic diversity of the Member countries in the Panel.[62][63][64] As a result, the panel agreed that the subject would be considered further at the next session and asked its eight members to provide its rapporteur with at least 10 names as well as their meanings, in accordance with the various criteria that the rapporteur had proposed before the end of the year.[62] At the following session, the rapporteur reported to the panel that seven of the eight members had submitted a list of names to him and presented these to the panel, which reviewed them and felt that they would not be appealing to either the media or the public.[63][65] As a result, the panel requested that the members should provide the rapporteur with a fresh set of names by June 2001, which should be appealing to both the public and the media.[63][65] Over the next few months, there was a poor response to this request from members of the panel and at the 29th session of the panel, the rapporteur noted that it wasn't possible to complete the project, without the full cooperation of members.[63][66] In response to the rapporteur's comments, the panel decided to urge all of its members to submit their proposed names to the rapporteur and ask for a named person who could be contacted to talk about the proposed naming scheme.[63][66] Over the next year, seven of the eight members submitted their proposed names to the rapporteur, however, at its 30th session, the panel decided that the naming list could not be implemented during the
2003 Season, as India hadn't submitted its names.[67] As a result, the panel urged India to cooperate and submit a list of names for the panel's consideration, while other members were asked to submit the pronunciation of the names that they had suggested.[67]
At the 31st session of the panel, the rapporteur revealed that the proposed list of names was ready for use by panel members, however, India had still not submitted its list of names despite a promise to cooperate from the Director General of the
India Meteorological Department (IMD).[63] As a result, the rapporteur recommended that the panel endorsed the proposed list of names and started to use it on an experimental basis, during the
2004 season after India had submitted its names.[63] The rapporteur also recommended that the IMD's
Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre in New Delhi, would be responsible for naming the tropical cyclones, once the system had become a cyclonic storm with 3-minute sustained winds of at least 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph).[63] It was also suggested that each name should only be used once and that the list of names should be replaced for the 2010 season and every 10 years afterwards.[63] In response the Indian representatives decided to seek approval from the WMO's permanent representative of India for Indian names to be included in the naming scheme and for it to be implemented during the season on an experimental basis.[63] The work on the proposed naming list was completed in May 2004, after India submitted its names and was available to be used by the IMD from September 2004, before the first system was named
Onil on October 1, 2004.[68] At its 33rd session, the panel noted that there had been keen media interest in the naming scheme and decided to ask the IMD to continue naming tropical cyclones, before it reviewed it at its following session.[68] Over the next few years, the IMD continued to name tropical cyclones when they had become a cyclonic storm with 3-minute sustained winds of at least 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph), before the panel noted at their 45th session in 2018 that the majority of names had been used and that only six remained.[64][69] As a result of five countries joining the panel since the original list of names was created, the panel decided that a new list of names would be prepared and presented to the panel.[64][69] Over the next 18 months, each of the member countries submitted a list of names before the final list of names was approved and publicly released by the Panel on April 28, 2020.[64][70] The first name to be assigned from this fresh list of names was
Nisarga, which was named by the IMD when it became a cyclonic storm on June 2, 2020.[71]
In January 1960, a formal naming scheme was introduced for the South-West Indian Ocean between Africa and 80°E, by the Mauritius and Madagascan Weather Services with the first cyclone being named Alix.[72][73][74] Over the next few years the names were selected in various ways including by the meteorological services of the region for several years at a time, before it was turned over to the WMO's South West Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclone Committee at the start of the 2000–01 season.[75]
Ahead of the
1963-64 season, the Australian
Bureau of Meteorology announced that a national scheme to name tropical cyclones had been introduced.[140][141] Each of the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers (TCWCs) in Perth, Darwin and Brisbane were allocated a separate list of fourteen female names, that started with every third letter, while the letters Q, X, Y and Z were not used.[140] The names were designed to be used in public bulletins, allocated in alphabetical order by the warning centre concerned and on the first indication that a tropical cyclone had developed within their individual area of responsibility.[140] It was also decided that should a tropical cyclone would retain its original name, should it move into another TCWC's area of responsibility.[140] The first name was assigned to
Tropical Cyclone Bessie by TCWC Perth on January 6, 1964, before TCWC Brisbane named
Tropical Cyclone Audrey later that month.[142] Over the next two years, these naming lists were used by the individual warning centres, before a fresh list of 90 female names was introduced ahead of the
1965-66.[142][143][144] Female names were used exclusively until the current convention of alternating male and female names commenced in 1975.[145] Naming lists were introduced for the Papuan National Weather Service and Indonesian
Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika.[146] In 2008, the lists used by the three TCWC centres were combined to form a single list of names.[147] Names that cause significant damage within the Australian region are retired with new names selected at the bi-annual meeting of the
World Meteorological Organization's RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee.[146]
Tropical Cyclones started to be named within the South Pacific, by the New Caledonia Meteorological Office during the 1958–59 season.[174][175] The Fiji Office of the New Zealand Meteorological Service subsequently started to also name cyclones during the 1969–70 season with Alice being the first name to be used.[174]
During March 2004, a tropical cyclone developed within the Southern Atlantic, about 1,010 km (630 mi) to the east-southeast of Florianópolis in southern Brazil.[181] As the system was threatening the Brazilian state of
Santa Catarina, a newspaper used the headline "Furacão Catarina," which was presumed to mean "furacão (hurricane) threatening (Santa) Catarina (the state)".[181] However, when the international press started monitoring the system, it was assumed that "Furacão Catarina" meant "Hurricane Catarina" and that it had been formally named in the usual way.[181] On March 12, 2010, Brazilian public and private weather services decided to name a tropical storm "Anita" in order to avoid confusion in future references.[182] A
naming list was subsequently set up by the
Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center with various names taken from that list between 2011 and the present day.[128][132][183]
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