Worldwide there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regionalTropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones.India Meteorological Department is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries under WMO/ESCAP Panel including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.RSMC, New Delhi is also mandated to name the Tropical Cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (NIO) including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS).

      Naming of Tropical Cyclones helps thescientific community, disaster managers, media and general masses to

• identify each individual cyclone.
• create awareness of its development.
• remove confusion in case of simultaneous occurrence of TCs over a region
• remember a TC easily
• rapidly and effectively disseminate warnings to much wider audience

Therefore, the tropical cyclones forming over different Ocean basins are named by the concerned RSMCs & TCWCs. For north Indian Ocean including Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, the RSMC, New Delhi assigns the name to tropical cyclones following a standard procedure. The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) at its twenty-seventh Session held in 2000 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman agreed in principle to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. After long deliberations among the member countries, the naming of the tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004. This list contained names proposed by then eight member countries of WMO/ESCAP PTC, viz., Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Almost all names except the last name (Amphan) from this list have been utilised till date.

During WMO/ESCAP PTC 45th Session held at Muscat, Oman in September, 2018 it was decided to prepare a fresh list of names of tropical cyclones including representation from five new member countries, viz., Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen (Total 13 member countries). The WMO/ESCAP PTC in this session nominated Dr.Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, India Meteorological Department to act as Rapporteur to co-ordinate among the Panel member countries and to finalise the list of names following the standard procedure and suggest the implementation plan. The report of the rapporteur was initially presented by India during 46th Session of WMO/ESCAP PTC held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar during 09-13, Sept., 2019. After deliberations, the report was finally adopted by WMO/ESCAP PTC with consensus in April, 2020.

Following criteria were adopted for selection of names by the PTC member countries:

Accordingly, the new list of names finalised by WMO/ESCAP PTC is given in Annexure-I. The list of names adopted earlier in 2004 is given Annexure-II. The current list has a total of 169 names including 13 names each from 13 WMO/ESCAP member countries. The names suggested by general public in India from time to time, were duly considered by the Committee constituted by IMD for finalisation of names from India and the appropriate names were selected for inclusion in this list of names proposed from India (Annexure I).

Following criteria have been adopted for implementation of the list of names:

India Meteorological Department duly acknowledges contribution from WMO, ESCAP and all the 13 PTC member countries, viz., Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen in preparation of the new list of names of TCs developing over the NIO.

For details kindly visit www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in 

New list of tropical cyclone names adopted by WMO/ESCAP Panel Member Countries in April 2020 for naming of tropical cyclones over North Indian Ocean including Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea

(To be used after the name ‘Amphan’ from the previous list is utilised)

Note:

Annexure-II

List of tropical cyclone names adopted by WMO/ESCAP Panel Member Countries in September, 2004

 (Names which have been utilised till December 2019 are marked in Red)

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KGS/(IMD)