How Hurricanes are Classified: Around the world, tropical cyclones are known by different names based on the ocean region in which they form. Although all hurricanes are part of the same weather system, they are classified to identify and issue warnings.
These are the main names used for these storms around the world
1. Cyclone: The storms that form in the areas around the Indian Ocean (India, Bangladesh, western part of Australia) are known as cyclones.
2. Hurricane: Storms that occur in the Atlantic Ocean, Northern and Eastern Pacific Ocean regions (America, Caribbean) are called hurricanes.
3. Typhoon: Storms in the western Pacific Ocean (Japan, Philippines, China) are named typhoons.
Storms are called Cyclone, Hurricane and Typhoon depending on the sea areas. However, there are many factors behind this as well as historical sources.
Hurricane: The term is mostly used in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Northeast Pacific Ocean regions. Looking at its historical origin, the word “Hurricane” comes from the Taíno people, an indigenous tribe in the Caribbean region. The people of this tribe worship a god called “Juracán” as the lord of storms. Besides these, the name of the wind god of the Mayan tribe “Huracan” is also believed to be the source of this. The Spanish explorers combined these words and called them “Huracán”. The word gradually became “hurricane” in English.
Typhoon: This term is used in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and China Sea regions. The word “typhoon” is a combination of Greek and Chinese words. It is said that it may have come from the Greek word “Typhōn” or “Typhōn” meaning “whirlwind” or “terrible wind” and the Cantonese word “tai fung” meaning “great wind” or “big wind” in Chinese. Typhoon was established as the sailors called these storms.
Tropical Cyclone: Tropical cyclone is the general scientific term used for all these systems. They are so named because they occur in the warm seas of the tropical region close to the equator.
There are some advantages of allocating names and dividing them into regions. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) oversees such classification and naming activities.
The main reasons for this division are:
Identifying hurricanes is easy: Storms can be easily identified when they occur in different areas at the same time. Area wise names are needed to provide warnings without any confusion. So that storm warnings can be clearly conveyed to the respective areas.
Monitoring is easy: Regional Warning Centers Weather organizations around the world monitor different regions. Storms in the Indian Ocean are called Cyclones. India’s IMD (India Meteorological Department) issues warnings for this region. In the Atlantic Ocean it is called a hurricane. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues warnings for this. A storm in the northwest Pacific Ocean is called a typhoon. For this, Japan’s RSMC Tokyo issues warnings.
Public Awareness: By giving such historical names to storms, the awareness among the people of those areas will increase. These names penetrate into the people there because they were used by sailors of yesteryear.
Thus the world is divided into six major basins for monitoring activities such as regional centers, their range, and naming of storms. Each basin has RSMC i.e. Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre. The respective centers select the names from the lists of countries under their jurisdiction. RSMC New Delhi will coordinate the naming of the cyclone for the North Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea regions in case of a cyclone. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), Miami, USA coordinates with the countries in their region to name and issue hurricane warnings in the North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific regions. Similarly, when it comes to typhoons, RSMC Tokyo (Japan) takes responsibility for storms in the northwest Pacific region. In the event of a cyclone in the southwest Indian Ocean, the RSMC, Réunion (France) coordinates the responsibilities of issuing warnings and naming those cyclones.
At present 13 countries are participating in RSMC which is running from our New Delhi centre. India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen are participating countries. At present, the name of Typhoon Montha has been suggested by the country of Thailand, which is part of this center. Montha means fragrant flower or beautiful flower in Thai language.
