A cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall along the coastlines of Odisha and West Bengal on Thursday, following the intensification of a current system over the Bay of Bengal. The state government announced on Sunday that it is implementing all necessary measures to mitigate the potential impact of the approaching cyclone.
Have you ever thought about how the storm was named, what was the process, and why this storm was named as “Dana”?
Saudi Arabia named the cyclone “Dana,” which means “generosity” in Arabic.The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) oversees the naming process, which uses a rotating list of names contributed by 14 countries in the North Indian Ocean region.
What is the process of naming cyclone?
The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones, during its twenty-seventh Session in 2000 held in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, reached an agreement to assign names to tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
The naming process began in September 2004, with eight Members providing the initial set of names. Since then, five more countries have joined the Panel.
Why was cyclone named Dana?
The Panel member’s names are arranged in alphabetical order by country. The names will be used sequentially, starting from the first row of column one and proceeding to the last row in column thirteen.
List of panel member countries
Once a name has been used for a tropical cyclone over the north Indian Ocean, it will be retired and not used again. The name should be original and not already exist in the list of any RSMCs worldwide, including RSMC New Delhi.
“The name of a tropical cyclone from south China Sea which crosses Thailand and emerge into the Bay of Bengal as a Tropical cyclone will not be changed.”
The RSMC New Delhi tropical cyclone center is tasked with naming tropical cyclones that have formed over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea once they have reached the appropriate intensity. The names will be selected from the list below, beginning with Nisarga, followed by Gati, Nivar, and so on.