In the name of the cyclone
Lalit Mohan

The recent cyclone which hit Myanmar was given the name Nargis

Nargis is a delicate and scented flower. It is the daffodil of Wordsworth’s poetry — the narcissus of botany. But how did its name ever get tagged on to a cyclone that killed possibly more than 50,000 people in Myanmar and caused huge attendant havoc?

Tropical storms are given quaint monikers primarily to provide ease of communication between forecasters and the general public. Since cyclones or typhoons or hurricanes can often last a week or longer, and more than one can occur in the same basin at the same time, proper names can reduce the confusion about the storm being described. It is an easier way of exchanging information than identifying them numerically, or in terms of longitudes, latitudes and wind speeds.

The first person to use a proper name for a tropical cyclone was an Australian forecaster, Clement Wragge, early in the 20th century. He gave storms names after political figures whom he disliked. He could, thus, publicly describe a politician as ‘causing great distress’ or ‘wandering aimlessly about the Pacific’, and take great pleasure in doing so.

The world was subsequently divided into several zones for weather monitoring, each with its own rules about christening storms. Normally, a wind speed of 35 knots is the qualifying mark. Not all of them cause widespread havoc, and are therefore not heard of, but are still of concern to sailors and farmers.

During World War II, tropical cyclones were informally given women’s names by US military meteorologists who were monitoring and forecasting storms over the Pacific, after their girlfriends or wives. From 1950 to 1952, hurricanes of the North Atlantic Ocean were identified by the phonetic alphabet (Able-Baker-Charlie-etc.), but in 1953 the US Weather Bureau changed to women’s names. In 1979, after protests by feminist groups, they switched to annual lists that also included men’s names, and they alternate with the women’s. Six lists, arranged in alphabetical order, are used in rotation. Thus, the 2008 list will be used again in 2014.

In the US the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not included because of the scarcity of names beginning with those letters. If more than 21 named tropical cyclones occur in a year, the Greek alphabet will be used following the "W" name. In 2005, following Wilma they had Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon
and Zeta.

If the tropical storm or hurricane moves into a different basin it was renamed to whatever name was next on the list for the area. In July, 1996, when Atlantic Basin Hurricane Cesar moved across Central America, it was renamed North-East Pacific Basin Hurricane Douglas.

Each region uses monikers that are native to it. Fiji has listed names such as Zita, Zaka, Zena, Zoc and Zazu. But they also have Gita, Meena and Nisha, explained by the large presence of people of Indian origin in the country.

Beginning January 1, 2000, tropical cyclones in the North-West Pacific Basin are being given Asian names which are contributed by all the nations and territories that are members of the WMO Typhoon Committee. These newly selected names are, by and large, are not personal in nature. The majority are of flowers, animals, birds, trees, or even foods, while some are descriptive adjectives. Secondly, the names are not used alphabetically, but in the order stipulated by the contributing nation.

However, if any hurricane or typhoon causes widespread damage, then its name is ‘retired’ forever from the list. No one likes unhappy memories. Thus Katrina, which devastated southern USA, was dropped in 2005. Marilyn, Rita and Roxanne are some of the others that are now history. In all, 72 names have been ‘retired’ in the Atlantic basin. A retired name is replaced with a like-gender name beginning with the same letter. For example, Honduras recommended in 1998 that the name Mitch be ‘retired’ and proposed the replacement name, Matthew. No doubt, Nargis will never be used again.

The Panel on Tropical Cyclones for the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea implemented its own name list, and started to use it in September, 2004. In the Indian Ocean rim, eight countries give eight names each. The countries themselves are alphabetised, starting with B for Bangladesh and ending at T for Thailand, but the names they give are used sequentially. There are no annual rolls. India chose Agni, Akash, Bijli, Jal, Lehar, Megh, Sagar and Vayu. Nargis was in the Pakistan list, and its turn came up when Myanmar was lashed by the storm currently in the news. Next on the Indian Ocean list is Abe from Sri Lanka. The less we hear of it, or of any cyclone, the better.