User:Jason Rees/Tropical Cyclone Naming

The practice of using names to identify tropical cyclones goes back many years, with systems named after places or things they hit before the formal start of naming. The system currently used provides positive identification of severe weather systems in a brief form, that is readily understood and recognized by the public. The credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems, is generally given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge who named systems between 1887-1907. This system of naming weather systems subsequently fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, until it was revived in the latter part of World War II for the Western Pacific. Formal naming schemes have subsquently been introduced for the North Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Western and Southern Pacific basins as well as the Australian region and Indian Ocean.

The formal start of naming
The practice of using names to identify tropical cyclones goes back many years, with systems numbered or named after places or things they hit before the formal start of naming. The system currently used provides positive identification of severe weather systems in a brief form, that is readily understood and recognized by the public. The risk of confusion between cyclones occurring at the same time is minimised and the name also provides a useful reference point for news stories. The credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems, is generally given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge, who named systems between 1887-1907. Wragge used names drawn from the letters of the Greek alphabet, Greek and Roman mythology and female names, to describe weather systems over Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic. After the new Australian government had failed to create a federal weather bureau and appoint him director, Wragge started naming cyclones after political figures. This system of naming weather systems subsequently fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, until it was revived in the latter part of the Second World War. Despite falling into disuse the naming scheme was occasionally mentioned in the press, with an editorial published in the Launceston Examiner newspaper on October 5, 1935 that called for the return of the naming scheme. Wragge's naming was also mentioned within Sir Napier Shaw’s “Manual of Meteorology” which likened it to a "child naming waves". After reading about Shaw's account of Wragge, George Stewart was inspired to write a novel "Storm", about a storm affecting California which was named Maria. The book was widely read after it was published in 1941 by Random House, especially by United States Army Air Corps and United States Navy (USN) meteorologists during World War II.

It is commonly believed that the publication of "Storm" influenced United States Army Air Forces forecasters (USAAF) at the Saipan weather center who started to informally name typhoons during 1944. During the next year this weather center was moved to Guam, while after the Allies had started to liberate the Philippines, the USAAF and the USN established new weather centers at Fort McKinley near Manila in the Philippines to facilitate forecasting for Philippine operations. During that season the responsibility for detecting and forecasting typhoons was divided between the centers with Guam using names that started with the letters A — M, while the Philippines used names that started with the letters N — Z.

Atlantic Ocean
During 1946, the United States Weather Bureau (USWB) was asked to start naming tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin using Female names, however, this request was rejected as it was felt that the system was "not appropriate" to use while warning the United States public. In 1947 the Air Force Hurricane Office in Miami started using the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet to name significant tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic Ocean. These names were used over the next few years in private/internal communications between weather centers and aircraft and not included in public bulletins.

During August and September 1950, three tropical cyclones (Hurricanes Baker, Dog and Easy) occurred simultaneously and impacted the United States during August and September 1950 which led to a lot of confusion within the media and the public. As a result during the next tropical cyclone (Fox), Grady Norton decided to start using the names in public statements and in his seasonal summary. This practice continued throughout the season, before the system was made official before the start of the next season. During 1952 there was a lot of confusion surrounding which names should be used after parts of the USWB had adopted the International Phonetic Alphabet, as the old phonetic alphabet was seen as too anglo centric. It was subsequently decided at the 1953 interdepartmental hurricane conference, to start using a list of female names to start naming tropical cyclones after. During the active but mild 1953 Atlantic hurricane season, the names were used in the press with only a few objections recorded. As a result public reception to the idea seemed favorable and the same names were reused during the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season with only one change: Gilda for Gail. However, after Hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel had wreaked havoc over the populated northeastern United States during that season, controversy raged with several protests over the use of women’s names as it was felt to be ungentlemanly and or insulting to womenhood. In response to this controversy forecasters claimed that 99% of correspondence received, at the Miami Weather Bureau office supported the use of women’s names for hurricanes.

Forecasters subsequently decided to continue with the current practice of naming hurricanes after women, but developed a new set of names ahead of the 1955 season with the names Carol, Edna and Hazel retired for the next ten years. However, before any names could be written, a tropical storm was discovered on January 2, 1955 and named Alice. The Representative T. James Tumulty subsequently announced that he intended to introduce legislation, that would call on the USWB to abandon its practice of naming hurricanes after women and suggested that be named using descriptive terms. Each year until 1960 forecasters decided to develop a new set of names each year.

Within the Atlantic basin the four lists of names were used until 1971, when the newly established United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided to inaugurate a ten year list of names for the basin. Roxcy Bolton subsequently petitioned the 1971, 1972 and 1973 interdepartmental hurricane conferences to stop the female naming, however the National Hurricane Center responded by stating that there was a 20:1 positive response in the usage of female names.

During 1977 the World Meteorological Organization formed a hurricane committee, which held its first meeting during May 1978 and took control of the Atlantic hurricane naming lists. During 1978 the Secretary of Commerce Juanita Kreps ordered the NOAA administrator Robert White to cease the sole usage of female names for hurricanes. Robert White subsequently passed the order on to the Director of NHC: Neil Frank, who attended the first meeting of the hurricane committee and requested that both men’s and women’s names be used for the Atlantic names. The committee subsequently decided to accept the proposal and adopted six new lists which contained both male and female names to be used from the following year. The lists also contained several Spanish and French names, so that they could reflect the cultures and languages used within the Atlantic Ocean. After an agreement was reached between Mexico and the United States, six new sets of male/female names were implemented during 1978 for the Eastern Pacific basin during 1978.

During the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season the naming of subtropical cyclones restarted, with names assigned to systems from the main list of names drawn up for that year. The practise of renaming tropical cyclones that moved from the Atlantic to the Eastern Pacific basin was also stopped.

Eight lists of tropical cyclone names were prepared for use in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins. In the Atlantic it was decided to rotate these lists every four years, while in the Eastern Pacific the names were designed to be used consecutively before being repeated. In 1966 after two of the Eastern Pacific lists of names had been used, it was decided to start recycling the sets of names on an annual basis like in the Atlantic. At its 1969 national conference the National Organization for Women passed a motion, that called for the National Hurricane Center (NHC) not to name tropical cyclones using only female names.

Eastern Pacific
During October 1985 the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center had to request an additional list of names, after the names preselected for that season was used up. As a result the names Xina, York and Zelda were added to the lists for odd years and the names Xavier, Yolanda, Zelda were added for even years. In 1988, the National Hurricane Center took over the responsibility from the EPHC, for naming and warning tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific.

Central Pacific
Able-Hiki-Salome (1950) https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/CP1957_Seasonal_TCR.pdf

It was also decided that the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, would no longer be borrowing names from the Western Pacific. Instead five sets of Hawaiian names were drafted, with the intent being to use the sets of names on an annual rotation basis. However, as no names were used between 1979 and 1981, it was decided in 1982 to revise the sets of names and use them consecutively.

Ahead of the 2007 hurricane season, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) and the Hawaii State Civil Defense, requested that the hurricane committee retire eleven names from the Eastern Pacific naming lists. However, the committee declined the request and noted that its criteria for the retirement of names was "well defined and very strict." It was felt that while the systems may have had a significant impact on the Hawaiian Islands, none of the impacts were major enough to warrant the retirement of the names. It was also noted that the Committee, had previously not retired names for systems that had a greater impact than those that had been submitted. The CPHC also introduced a revised set of Hawaiian names for the Central Pacific, after they had worked with the University of Hawaii Hawaiian Studies Department to ensure the correct meaning and appropriate historical and cultural use of the names.

In 1950 a tropical cyclone that affected Hawaii was named Able, after a tropical cyclone had not affected Hawaii for a number of years. The system was also named Salome by the Air Weather Service Office in Guam, before it became widely known as Hurricane Hiki. Typhoon Olive of 1952 developed within the Central Pacific, but was not named until it had crossed the International Dateline and moved into the Western Pacific basin. During 1957, three other tropical cyclones developed in the Central Pacific and were named Kanoa, Della and Nina, by the Hawaiian military meteorological offices. It was subsequently decided that future tropical cyclones, would be named by borrowing names from the Western Pacific naming lists. Hawaiian names were reinstated for the lists during 1979, with 5 sets of names drafted using only the 12 letters of the Hawaiian alphabet, with the intent being to use the sets of names on an annual rotation basis. However, after no storms had developed in this region between 1979 and 1981, the annual lists were scrapped and replaced with four sets of names and designed to be used consecutively. Ahead of the 2007 hurricane season, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) introduced a revised set of Hawaiian names for the Central Pacific, after they had worked with the University of Hawaii Hawaiian Studies Department to ensure the correct meaning and appropriate historical and cultural use of the names.

Western Pacific
By 1958, the Guam Weather Center had become the Fleet Weather Central/Typhoon Tracking Center on Guam and had started to name systems as they became tropical storms rather than typhoons. During 1959 the US Pacific Command Commander in Chief and the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided that the various US Navy and Air-force weather units, would become one unit based on Guam entitled the Fleet Weather Central/Joint Typhoon Warning Center which started naming the systems for the Western Pacific basin.

A new list of names was also drawn up during the year for the Western Pacific and implemented after the 1979 tropical cyclone conference.

During the 30th session of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee in November 1997, a proposal was put forward by Hong Kong, to give Asian typhoons local names and to stop using the European and American names that had been used since 1945. The committee's Training and Research Coordination Group was subsequently tasked to consult with members and work out the details of the scheme in order to present a list of names for approval at the 31st session. During August 1998, the group met and decided that each member of the committee would be invited to contribute ten names to the list and that five principles would be followed for the selection of names. It was also agreed that each name would have to be approved by each member and that a single objection would be enough to veto a name. A list of 140 names was subsequently drawn up and submitted to the Typhoon Committees 32nd session, who after a lengthy discussion approved the list and decided to implement it on January 1, 2000. It was also decided that the Japan Meteorological Agency would name the systems rather than the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Phillippines
During 1963, the Philippine Weather Bureau adopted four sets of Pilipino women's nicknames ending in "Ng" from A to Y for use in its self defined area of responsibility.

In 1998, PAGASA conducted "Name a Bagyo Contest", a contest designed to revise the naming scheme for typhoons within the Philippine Area of Responsibility with 140 names submitted in 1999 and the contest prompted PAGASA to begin using the revised naming system with four sets of 25 names and 10 auxiliary names, (replacing its list of female names that used since 1963) rotating every four years, in 2001 and later revised in 2005.

South-West Indian Ocean
In January 1960, a formal naming scheme was introduced for the South-West Indian Ocean, by the Mauritius and Madagascan Weather Services with the first cyclone being named Alix.

At the start of the 1999-2000 tropical cyclone season it was decided to introduce male names to the lists of names prepared for the South-West Indian Ocean. Ahead of the following season the World Meteorological Organization's Tropical Cyclone Committee for the South-West Indian Ocean, decided to start preparing the lists of names for each season.

During September 2001, RSMC La Reunion proposed to the 15th session of the RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee for the South-West Indian Ocean that the basin adopt a single circular list of names be adopted. Along with the RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee, RSMC La Reunion also proposed to the session that a tropical cyclone have only one name during its lifetime. However these proposals were rejected in favour of continuing an annual list of names and to rename systems when they moved across 90°E into the South-West Indian Ocean. The committee subsequently approved the names for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 tropical cyclone seasons.

Australia
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology subsequently started to name tropical cyclones in the Australian region, during the 1963–64 cyclone season with the first Western Australian cyclone being named Bessie on January 6, 1964.

Ahead of the 1963-64 tropical cyclone season starting on December 1, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology introduced a scheme to name tropical cyclones whenever it was determined that a system had developed. The BoM's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers (TCWCs) in Perth, Darwin and Brisbane were each allocated a separate list of fourteen female names, that started with every third letter, while the letters Q, X, Y and Z were not used. The names were designed to be used in public bulletins, allocated in alphabetical order by the warning centre concerned and on the first indication that a tropical cyclone had developed within their individual area of responsibility. It was also decided that should a tropical cyclone would retain its original name, should it move into another TCWC's area of responsibility. The first name was assigned to Tropical Cyclone Bessie by TCWC Perth on January 6, 1964, before TCWC Brisbane named Tropical Cyclone Audrey later that month. Over the next two years, these naming lists were used by the individual warning centres, before a fresh list of 90 female names was introduced ahead of the 1965-66.

Ahead of the 1985-86 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons, the western boundry of the Australian Region was moved from 80E to 90E. As a result any tropical cyclones moving into the South-West Indian Ocean were renamed at 90E rather than 80E.

On April 22, 2008 the newly established tropical cyclone warning centre in Jakarta, Indonesia named its first system: Durga, before two sets of Indonesian names were established for their area of responsibility ahead of the 2008-09 season. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology also merged each of their three TCWC's lists into one one national list of names. The issue of tropical cyclones being renamed when they moved across 90°E into the South-West Indian Ocean, was subsequently brought up during October 2008 at the 18th session of the RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee. However, it was decided to postpone the matter until the following committee meeting so that various consultations could take place. During the 2009 Tropical Cyclone RSMCs/TCWCs Technical Coordination Meeting, it was reaffirmed that tropical cyclone names should be retained, when moving from one basin to another to avoid confusion. As a result it was proposed at the following years RA I tropical cyclone committee, that systems stopped being renamed when they moved into the South-West Indian Ocean from the Australian region. It was subsequently agreed that during an interim period, cyclones that moved into the basin would have a name attached to their existing name, before it was stopped at the start of the 2012-13 season. Tropical Cyclone Bruce was subsequently the first tropical cyclone not to be renamed when it moved into the South-West Indian Ocean during 2013-14.

South Pacific
Later that year during the 1958-59 cyclone season, the New Caledonia Meteorological Office, started to name tropical cyclones within the Southern Pacific.

Later that year during the 1969-70 cyclone season, the New Zealand Meteorological Service (NZMS) office in Fiji, started to name tropical cyclones that developed within the South Pacific basin with the first named Alice on January 4, 1970.

In February 1975, the NZMS decided to incorporate male names into the naming lists for the South Pacific, from the following season after a request from the Fiji National Council of Women who considered the practice discrimination. At around the same time the Australian Science Minister ordered that tropical cyclones, within the Australian region should carry both men's and women's names as the minster thought "that both sexes should bear the odium of the devastation caused by cyclones." Male names were subsequently added to the lists of names for the Southern Pacific and each of the three Australian tropical cyclone warning centres ahead of the 1975-76 season.

As the dual sex naming of tropical cyclones started in the Northern Hemisphere, the NZMS considered adding ethnic Pacific names to the naming lists rather than the European names that were currently used. As a result of the many languages and cultures in the Pacific there was a lot of discussion surrounding this matter, with one name "Oni" being dropped as it meant the end of the world in one language. One proposal suggested that cyclones be named from the country nearest to which they formed, however, this was dropped when it was realized that a cyclone might be less destructive in its formative stage than later in its development. Eventually it was decided to throw names from all over the South Pacific into a pot at a traning course, where each course member provided a list of names that were short, easily pronounced, culturally acceptable throughout the Pacific and did not contain any idiosyncrasies. These names were then collated, edited for suitability before being cross checked with the group for acceptability. It was intended that the four lists of names should be alphabetical with alternative male and female names while using only ethnic names, however it was not possible to complete the lists using only ethnic names. As a result there was a scattering of European names in the final naming lists, which have been used by the Fiji Meteorological Service and NZMS since the 1980-81 season.

South Atlantic
Over the years little to no attention has been given to the possibility of tropical cyclogenesis over the South Atlantic by researchers and weather forecasters, as environmental conditions are generally unfavourable for tropical cyclones formation. During March 2004, an extratropical disturbance transitioned into a tropical cyclone, within the southwestern Atlantic Ocean and impacted the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. As a result, the system received significant attention from the media, researchers and weather forecasters, with the Brazillian press using the designation "Furacao Catarina", which was later presumed by the international press to mean "Hurricane Catarina" and that it had been formally named. The name Aldonca was also widely used by discussion groups and websites for the cyclone before the name Catarina went viral.

On March 12, 2010, in order to avoid confusion in any future references to a rare tropical cyclone that had impacted the Brazilian States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, regional weather centres and private weather enterprises of both states decided to unofficially name the system Anita after Anita Garibaldi.

A naming list was subsequently set up by the Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center with various names taken from that list between 2011 and the present day.

Modern day
At present tropical cyclones are officially named by one of eleven meteorological services and retain their names throughout their lifetimes to provide ease of communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings. Since the systems can last a week or longer and more than one can be occurring in the same basin at the same time, the names are thought to reduce the confusion about what storm is being described. Names are assigned in order from predetermined lists with one, three, or ten-minute sustained wind speeds of more than 65 km/h depending on which basin it originates. However, standards vary from basin to basin with some tropical depressions named in the Western Pacific, while tropical cyclones have to have a significant amount of gale-force winds occurring around the center before they are named within the Southern Hemisphere.

Should the names preselected for the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins be exhausted, a contingency plan of using the Greek alphabet for names will be used to name any tropical cyclones. The only time the contingency plan has had to be used was during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, when all of the names preselected for the season were exhausted. There were subsequently a couple of attempts to get rid of the Greek names as they are seen to be inconsistent with the standard naming convention used for tropical cyclones and are generally unknown and confusing to the public. However, none of the attempts have succeeded and thus the Greek alphabet will be used should the lists ever be used up again.

The names of significant tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Australian region are retired from the naming lists and replaced with another name. Any names assigned to a tropical cyclone by TCWC Port Moresby are automatically retired regardless of any damage caused as it is rare for a system to develop there. There are no names retired within the South-West Indian Ocean, as names are generally not used more than once and fresh naming lists are developed each year.

Other forms of naming
During 1954, a student at the Free University of Berlin's meteorological institute suggested that names, should be assigned to all areas of low and high pressure that influenced the weather of Central Europe. The university subsequently started to name every area of high or low pressure within its weather forecasts, from a list of 260 male and 260 female names submitted by its students. The female names were assigned to areas of low pressure while male names were assigned to areas of high pressure. The names were subsequently exclusively used by Berlin's media until February 1990, after which the German media started to commonly use the names, however, they were not officially approved by the German Meteorological Service Deutscher Wetterdienst. The DWD subsequently banned the usage of the names by their offices during July 1991, after complaints had poured in about the naming system. However, the order was leaked to the German press agency: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, who ran it as its lead weather story. Germany's ZDF television channel subsequently ran a phone in poll on July 17, 1991 and claimed that 72% of the 40,000 responses favored keeping the names. This made the DWD pause and think about the naming system and these days the DWD accept the naming system.