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Subject: B1) How are tropical cyclones named?
Contributed by Chris Landsea
For listings of the current names being used see B2.
Tropical cyclones are named to provide ease of communication
between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts,
watches, and warnings. Since the storms can often last a week
or longer and that more than one can be occurring in the same
basin at the same time, names can reduce the confusion about
what storm is being described. According to
Dunn and Miller (1960), the first use of a proper
name for a tropical cyclone was by an Australian forecaster
early in the 20th century. He gave tropical cyclone names "after
political figures whom he disliked. By properly naming a
hurricane, the weatherman could publicly describe a politician
(who perhaps was not too generous with weather-bureau
appropriations) as 'causing great distress' or 'wandering aimlessly
about the Pacific.'".
During World War II, tropical cyclones were informally given
women's names by US Army Air Corp and Navy meteorologists
(after their girlfriends or wives) who were monitoring and
forecasting tropical cyclones over the Pacific. From 1950 to
1952, tropical cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean were
identified by the phonetic alphabet (Able-Baker-Charlie-etc.),
but in 1953 the US Weather Bureau switched to women's names. In 1979,
the WMO and the US National Weather Service (NWS) switched to a
list of names that also included men's names.
The Northeast Pacific basin tropical cyclones were named using
women's names starting in 1959 for storms near Hawaii and in
1960 for the remainder of the Northeast Pacific basin. In 1978,
both men's and women's names were utilized.
The Northwest Pacific basin tropical cyclones were given women's
names officially starting in 1945 and men's names were also included
beginning in 1979. As of 1 January 2000, tropical cyclones in
the Northwest Pacific basin are now being named from a new and very different
list of names. The new names are Asian names and were contributed by all
the nations and territories that are members of the WMO's Typhoon Committee.
These newly selected names have two major differences from the rest of the
world's tropical cyclone name rosters.
- The names by and large are not personal names. There are a few men's
and women's names, but the majority are names of flowers, animals, birds,
trees, or even foods, etc, while some are descriptive adjectives.
- The names will not be allotted in alphabetical order, but are arranged
by contributing nation with the countries being alphabetized.
The North Indian Ocean region tropical cyclones are named as of 2006.
The Southwest Indian Ocean tropical cyclones were first named during the
1960/1961 season.
The Australian and South Pacific region (east of 90E, south of the
equator) started giving women's names to the storms in 1964 and
both men's and women's names in 1974/1975.
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