Aren't cyclones always named with women's names? How come we there is a cyclone Nelson?

Answer 1

Tropical Depressions are numbered TD-1,TD2,TD3, etc. When they reach the windspeed strength of a Tropical Storm, they are given a name. Tropical Storms are "prenamed" for each hurricane/cyclone season. If they develop into cyclones or hurricanes , they keep the same name. This is why there are gaps in the names of hurricanes since not all TS develop to cyclone or hurricane strength. All the storms are prenamed for the year A-Z by meterologists at the National Hurricane Center for the Atlantic/western world based storms. Each cyclone region has its own prenamed list for every season. I think now they alternate back and forth between female and male names for all 3 systems. The year of Katrina, we actually went through all the names A-Z and the tropical storms after that were given Greek letters alpha beta gama, etc.

You can go to the National Hurricane Center's website and see the names picked for the upcomming season.


The joke I heard about why in the past they were all given female names was because like women ... when they arrived they were wild, hot, and wet.... when they left, they both took the house and all of your possessions with them. :)

The main reason women's names were chosen for the storms I believe had to do with earlier days of weather forcasting and the unpredictability of the strength and directional path of the storms were thought to have some similar qualities.

The terms "hurricane" and "typhoon" are regionally specific names for a strong "tropical cyclone":

"hurricane" (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E)

"typhoon" (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)

"severe tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)

"severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean)

"tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Indian Ocean)

Answer 2

No, they are named alternately men and women names.

Tropical cyclones are named to provide ease of communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings. Having a name also raises the profile of the cyclone heightening the public's awareness. Since the storms can often last a week or longer and that more than one can be occurring in the same region at the same time, names can also reduce the confusion about what storm is being described.

Each Australian Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (Perth, Darwin and Brisbane) maintains a list of around 50 names (arranged alphabetically and alternating male and female). A name remains on the list until its corresponding cyclone severely impacts the coast (e.g.Rosita and Vance). The name is then permanently retired and replaced with another (of the same gender and first letter). It takes around 10 years from the time a name is put on the list to when it is first used to name a cyclone.

The convention of naming Australian tropical cyclones began in 1964. The first Western Australian named cyclone was Bessie that formed on 6 January 1964. Female names were used exclusively until the current convention of alternating male and female names commenced in 1975.

Answer 3

In 1974, the Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, told the Bureau of Meteorology that names of tropical cyclones should alternate between male and female names. The Bureau of Meteorology advised the World Meteorological Organisation which approves the lists of tropical cyclone names held by each TC warning centre that they were making a new list to comply with the order. This was approved and in 1975, names alternated between male and female in Australia.

The WMO liked the idea and the member countries agreed so that by 1979, those countries that used names for tropical cyclones/typhoons/hurricanes all alternated between male and female names. The names of typhoons are slightly different as the fourteen countries affected by typhoons all proposed names for the list and these qwere incorporated. As well as male and female names, there are names of flowers, birds, astrological signs and other things.

Answer 4

madd_bm gave the only correct statement so far.

The gender of the names alternates each year, although I believe they were all female names until about 30 years ago.

The names are picked in advance, starting with an A name, like Alice, then a B name, etc. Nelson means we've had 14 cyclones so far. The names are reused year to year unless one gets signficant media attention and a new name is picked.

Answer 5

They used but ran out of names, now they have them in alphabetical order and alternate between women and mens names, i.e in April we had cylcone Monica (M and a Girls name) now the next cyclone since then is Nelson (N and a Boys name) Next one will probably be a Girls Name starting with O. My guess is Cyclone Ophelia.

Answer 6

Because cyclones are hard to avoid. You can't get away from them, like crazy women, and they come right at ya at your weakest point.

But if the next cyclone hits and I see it in the news, I will call it Cyclone Nelson.

Answer 7

What an interesting question. I always thought that this started in the distant past, with sailors who regarded everything to do with the sea as female, including ships. But some pretty basic reasearch finds that it started with an Aussie forecaster in the early 1900s who named them after political figures he disliked! He'd have a field day today, lolol. It seems the US government's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (including the National Hurricane Centre) ~ located in Florida, is responsible for naming storms or at least for maintaining the lists from which names are chosen. They publish lists of past and future names, which vary from region to region and which includes many non-gender specific names. I've put some links below, and bookmarked the site for future reference ~ fascinating stuff!! For me ~ a real 'myth buster' of a question! :-)

Answer 8

It all depends on the meterologist who discovered the cyclone. Whoever discovers it names it.

Answer 9

Not true. They alternate every year between male and female names.

Answer 10

in the past they were given women names, they started runnin out so they changed it..... dont have to ask why it was given women names just think