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The names selected are those that are familiar to the people in each region. It is important to note that tropical cyclones/hurricanes/typhoons are not named after any particular person. In general, tropical cyclones are named according to the rules at a regional level. In other regions, the lists are established following the alphabetical order of the country names - please see "Tropical Cyclone Names Worldwide" below for more details. In some of the regions, the lists are established by alphabetical order of the names. Naming procedures in other regions are almost the same as in the Caribbean. The pre-designated list of hurricane names are proposed by its Members that include National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in the North/Central America and the Caribbean. For instance, Hurricane Committee determines a pre-designated list of hurricane names for six years separately at its annual session. ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones, RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee, RA IV Hurricane Committee, and RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee. There are five tropical cyclone regional bodies, i.e. There is a strict procedure to determine a list of tropical cyclone names in an ocean basin by the Tropical Cyclone Regional Body responsible for that basin at its annual/biennial meeting. Infamous storm names such as Mangkhut (Philippines, 2018), Irma and Maria (Caribbean, 2017), Haiyan (Philippines, 2013), Sandy (USA, 2012), Katrina (USA, 2005), Mitch (Honduras, 1998) and Tracy (Darwin, 1974) are examples for this. If that occurs, then at an annual meeting by the WMO Tropical Cyclone Committees (called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it. The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. Thus, the 2019 list will be used again in 2025. In 1979, men's names were introduced and they alternate with the women's names.
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The original name lists featured only women's names. They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization.
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Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. Before the end of the 1900's, forecasters started using male names for those forming in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, a storm with a name which begins with A, like Anne, would be the first storm to occur in the year. In the pursuit of a more organized and efficient naming system, meteorologists later decided to identify storms using names from a list arranged alphabetically. Then the mid-1900's saw the start of the practice of using feminine names for storms. An Atlantic storm that ripped off the mast of a boat named Antje became known as Antje's hurricane. In the beginning, storms were named arbitrarily. These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea. Many agree that appending names to storms makes it easier for the media to report on tropical cyclones, heightens interest in warnings and increases community preparedness.Įxperience shows that the use of short, distinctive given names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker and less subject to error than the older more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods. The practice of naming storms (tropical cyclones) began years ago in order to help in the quick identification of storms in warning messages because names are presumed to be far easier to remember than numbers and technical terms.
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