Cyclones, Hurricanes, And Typhoons: Storm Naming – Who Calls The Shots? Explained

Initially, the United States exclusively used female names for storms. It wasn’t until 1978 that male names were introduced, but initially, they were only assigned to storms in the Northern Pacific. It wasn’t until the following year that storms in the Atlantic basin began to be named.

But before we delve deeper into how these storms are known regionally we must understand these storms are known by different names in different parts of the world. Meteorologists use the term ‘Tropical Cyclone’ to signify these intense wind pressure systems, but in the North Atlantic and the eastern/central North Pacific oceans, they are termed Hurricanes.

While in the western South Pacific and Indian oceans, they are known as Cyclones a term we are most familiar with. Typhoons, on the other hand, are specific to the western North Pacific, commonly affecting regions around the Philippines, Japan, and China.

Why Name A Storm?

The adoption of short, distinctive names for storms, as opposed to using cumbersome latitude-longitude identifications, has proven advantageous in disseminating vital storm information among numerous scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea.

Additionally, the use of easily recalled names helps minimize confusion, especially during periods when two or more tropical storms occur simultaneously.

In the past, the lack of standardized naming often led to confusion and the spread of false rumours. Storm advisories broadcasted by radio stations sometimes pertained to entirely different storms located hundreds of miles away, exacerbating the confusion among the public.

Who Chooses The Names Now?

The process of naming storms is overseen by an international committee of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. The Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Tropical Cyclones is tasked with monitoring and predicting tropical cyclones within their designated regions. Additionally, they have the responsibility of assigning names to the cyclones.

For naming the cyclones in the Indian Ocean Region in 2000, during its twenty-seventh session in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones agreed to assign names to tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Commencing from September 2004, after extensive discussions among member countries, the naming process began. Names are listed alphabetically by country and used sequentially column-wise.

For instance, the first name starts from the first row of column one and continues to the last row in column eight, for example, Onil, Hibaru, Pyarr, Baaz, Amphan etc. The RSMC tropical cyclones in New Delhi assign identification names from this list, covering both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

For Atlantic hurricanes, there are six alphabetical lists of names, each rotated through every six years. In essence, each list is repeated every seventh year. However, changes to the list may occur if a storm causes significant devastation or loss. In such cases, the offending name is removed from the list at the committee’s annual meeting, and a replacement name is chosen.