How are cyclones named?

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 07, Jun 2022

Reference News: 

Cyclone Asani, has developed over southeast regions of Bay of Bengal.

How the cyclones are named and what are the guidelines on adopting their names?

In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region.

After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list.

The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The list of 169 cyclone names released by IMD in April 2020 were provided by these countries — 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries.

Why is it important to name cyclones?

Adopting names for cyclones makes it easier for people to remember

With a name, it is also easy to identify individual cyclones, create awareness of its development, rapidly disseminate warnings to increase community preparedness and remove confusion where there are multiple cyclonic systems over a region.

What are the guidelines to adopt names of cyclones?

While picking names for cyclones, countries need to follow some rules.

The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender

Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe

It should not be very rude and cruel in nature

It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member

The maximum length of the name will be eight letters

The proposed name should be provided with its pronunciation and voice over

The names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean will not be repeated. Once used, it will cease to be used again.