User:Jason Rees/WPAC Naming History


 * World War 2 - Love sick crews start naming TC's using female names
 * During 1958 the FWC/TTC started to name tropical cyclones when they became tropical storms rather than typhoons.


 * 1959 - JTWC formation

Typhoon Committee
At the 28th session of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee in December 1995, the representatives of Hong Kong suggested that the Typhoon Committee should be the body that names tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific tropical cyclone basin. It was hoped that the names would be standardizard if the Typhoon Committee took over the naming, in response the committee urged its members to consider the proposal, ahead of discussions during forthcoming sessions and noted that it would need to consult with various other bodies. On January 1, 1996, the JTWC started to use a new list of American and English male and female names to name tropical cyclones over the region. The Typhoon Committee revisited the proposed naming scheme at its 30th session in November 1997, where it was suggested that the usage of Asian names over the region would enhance people's alertness to an approaching tropical cyclone and make the warnings more effective. As a result, the committee decided to endorse the proposal and asked its training and research coordination group, to urgently develop a naming scheme and present it at the next annual session of the committee. Over the next year, the training and research coordination group developed the naming scheme and invited all of the members of the WMO impacted by typhoons to contribute names, before they presented their proposed naming scheme to the 31st session.

The scheme consisted of one list of names

After an in-depth discussion about the naming scheme, it was decided that there would be one circular list of 140 names, which consisted of ten names from each member. In the interests of cooperation and harmony, it was also decided that any names chosen would have unanimous support from the committee members and that an objection from any member would be enough to veto a proposed name. It was also decided that the Japan Meteorological Agency Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre in Tokyo, Japan would name and number the systems on behalf of the Typhoon Committee, when they were judged to become tropical storms.

that members would be allowed to translate the names in their local languages no more than nine alphabets were to be used, that the names had to be easily pronounceable and

Representatives of China, Hong Kong and Macau met in Bejing on March 31 and April 1, 1999, where they developed a common translation of the names, in order to reduce confusion amongst Chinese-speaking travellers.

the list and decided to implement it on January 1, 2000.

In November 2000, the committee was informed that the India Meteorological Department had objected to the name Hanuman being used, because of potential religious sentiments. Thailand also requested that the spelling of several names be corrected and indicated a desire to change the names Prapiroon, Durian and Khanun. The representatives of the United States of America also requested that the name Kodo be changed as it would have an undesirable meaning if mispronounced. The session subsequently accepted the spelling changes as well as the requests from Thailand and the United States and established that both countries would submit a list of four names in priority order to its Secretariat within a week of the session ending. The Typhoon Committee Secretariat would then circulate the list to all members for comment, with the highest priority name acceptable to all members used. The secretariat subsequently reported to the following years session that the names Morakot and Aere had replaced Hanuman and Kodo.