In different parts of the world, the weather forecaster will speak of a  "hurricane", "cyclone" or "typhoon.” But these are just different names for the same weather phenomenon: torrential rain and maximum sustained wind speeds (near storm centre) exceeding 119 kilometers per hour.

These storms are called different names depending on the ocean basin in which they occur. The World Meteorological Organization [WMO] is the United Nations' authoritative voice on weather, climate and water. According to the WMO, “hurricanes” [named after the Mayan God Hurakan] occur in the western North Atlantic, central and eastern North Pacific, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. “Typhoons” happen in the western North Pacific.

“Cyclones” occur in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. “Severe tropical cyclones” is the name for such storms in western South Pacific and southeast India Ocean, while “tropical cyclones” is the name for such storms in the southwest Indian Ocean. I am convinced that some of the British and Irish so-called ‘strong gales’ may actually be hurricanes which have crossed the Atlantic.

There are also different names for the stages of the development of these high powered storms: It is a tropical depression when the maximum sustained wind speed is less than 63 km/h. It is a tropical storm when the maximum sustained wind speed is more than 63 km/h. And that is when it is also given a name; a personal name. Tropical cyclone Betty may or may not develop into Hurricane Betty.

The practice of naming storms (tropical cyclones) began years ago in order to help in the quick identification of storms in warning messages because names are presumed to be far easier to remember that numbers and technical terms. Many agree that appending names to storms makes it easier for the media to report on tropical cyclones, heightens interest in warnings and increases community preparedness.

Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive given names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker and less subject to error than the older more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods. These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea.

In the beginning, storms were named arbitrarily. An Atlantic storm that ripped off the mast of a boat named Antje became known as Antje's hurricane. Then the mid-1900's saw the start of the practice of using feminine names for storms. Meteorologists later decided to be more efficient and identify storms using names from a list arranged alphabetically. Thus, a storm with a name which begins with A, like Anne, would be the first storm to occur in the year. Before the end of the 1900s, forecasters started using male names for those forming in the Southern Hemisphere.

Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The original name lists featured only women's names. In 1979, men's names were introduced and they alternate with the women's names. Six lists are used in rotation. Thus, the 2008 list will be used again in 2014.

If you google your own name with ‘hurricane’ in front of it, you can find out when there was or will be a storm with your name on it. But don’t take it personally.

Tropical cyclones can last for a week or more; therefore there can be more than one cyclone at a time. Weather forecasters give each tropical cyclone a name to avoid confusion. Each year, tropical cyclones receive names in alphabetical order. Women and men's names are alternated. The name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO Members of a specific region, and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/bi-annual sessions.

Nations in the western North Pacific began using a new system for naming tropical cyclones in 2000. Each of the fourteen nations affected by typhoons submitted a list of names totalling 141. The names include animals, flowers, astrological signs, and a few personal names, used in pre-set order. In 2010, the first hurricane in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic region will be called Alex, and in Eastern North Pacific, it will be Agatha. For more information, see the WMO website on storm naming: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/tcp/Storm-naming.html.  

In the East Pacific, sixteen named tropical cyclones were recorded in 2008, of which seven evolved into hurricanes and two of them into major hurricanes at Category 3 or higher. In the Western North Pacific, twenty two named tropical cyclones were recorded in 2008, ten of which were classified as typhoons compared to the long-term average of twenty seven and fourteen, respectively.

Between 1886 and 1998, out of the 566 Atlantic hurricanes in the Atlantic, twenty two have grown as strong as to become Category 5 hurricanes with maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 249 km/h. The worst recent tropical cyclones include Hurricane Mitch (Honduras) in 1998, Hurricane Katrina (USA) in 2005 and most recently hurricane Gustav (Haiti) in 2008, and severe cyclone Nargis (Myanmar) in 2008.

In 2008, a total of sixteen named tropical cyclones formed in the Atlantic including eight hurricanes, five of which were major hurricanes at Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. These numbers are well above the long-term averages of 11, 6, and 2 respectively. The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was devastating, with casualties and widespread destruction in the Caribbean, Central America and the United States of America. For the first time on record, six consecutive tropical cyclones (Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike) made landfall on the United States of America, and two major hurricanes (Gustav and Ike) hit Cuba.

By early November 2009, the hurricane season in the Atlantic counted nine named tropical cyclones, of which three became hurricanes. These numbers are well below the long term average of tropical cyclones in the region.

The Western North Pacific has been hit several times in September - October 2009 by numerous typhoons such as Ondoy, Ketsana, Parma, Lupit and Mirinae, causing many casualties.

Detailed information on tropical cyclones is available at the Severe Weather Information Centre. www.severe.worldweather.wmo.int. This specialized WMO web site gives real-time information on tropical cyclones and severe weather around the world. It is maintained by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) in Hong Kong, China, under the auspice of WMO.