As for the naming of typhoons, in recent years, it has become common in the world to name them after people and proverbs from countries where typhoons often occur.
◆ Why the name?
Because a tropical cyclone often lasts for more than a week from birth to death. Several tropical cyclones may appear in the ocean at the same time. It is not easy to have a name. Confuse each other. It is said that the first person to name a typhoon was an Australian forecaster in the early 20th century. He named the tropical cyclone after a political figure he did not like, so that the weathermen could publicly joke about the politician.
◆ How to name cyclones
In the northwest Pacific, official naming of tropical cyclones after people began in 1945, and at first only women's names were used. Later, it is said that due to opposition from feminists, starting in 1979, a man's name and a woman's name were used interchangeably.
Starting from January 1, 2000, the Northwest Pacific region has launched a completely different set of nomenclature lists from the past. They all use names provided by 14 countries and regions that are members of the WMO Typhoon Committee. The new list of Asian names has two characteristics that are significantly different from the names of tropical cyclones in other regions: first, very few names are used, and most names are used for flowers, animals, birds, trees and even food, and some are descriptive adjectives. Second, the list does not use the alphabetical order of the names, but the alphabetical order of the countries or regions that provide the names. Each country and region provides 10 names, and there are a total of 140 names in the list.
◆ Names can also be "retired"
In addition, the names of tropical cyclones may also be "retired". Under normal circumstances, a pre-established naming list is recycled year after year in order, but in special circumstances, some names may be "retired" from the list. It turns out that when a typhoon causes particularly serious disasters or casualties, it becomes a well-known typhoon to the public. In order to prevent it from having the same name as another typhoon that appears in the future, the name is deleted from the current list.