‘What’s in a cyclone’s name?

Kamal Baruah

(kamal.baruah@yahoo.com)

Though weather reports are a bit technical, TV viewers were familiar with the language of meteorologists from the analysis in the Doordarshan era, but it often ponders us: how reliable are weather forecasts? On many occasions, we failed to trust a newscast script saying, “It’s rainy all day today, I’m afraid; there may be a thunderstorm in the afternoon,” that brought laughter and joy into our day at the football field. Since our northeast is full of hills and valleys, the chances of some rain do not exist elsewhere. Satellite images now make it possible to get accurate monsoon information. This year, the southwest monsoon is anticipated to arrive on time on Kerala’s coasts on June 1, despite Cyclone ‘Remal’.

With the first monsoon rain, humanity erupts in joy in Mumbai, as do places, especially in dry areas in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Met people could predict the weather by looking at the clouds. The coastal districts of Odisha have witnessed years of suffering from tropical cyclones. Meanwhile, hurricanes and typhoons are other tropical cyclones differentiated by their location. Hurricanes are formed over the North Atlantic and NE Pacific; typhoons over the NW Pacific and Northern Indian Ocean; and cyclones over the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

We have always wondered how a cyclone gets its name. From Amphan (sky in Thai) to Asani (wrath in Sinhalese), the first thing that strikes the minds of most is what these names mean (the name ‘Remal’ suggested by Oman, meaning sand), whenever a cyclone hits. Actually, the practice of naming began years ago to help in the quick identification of storms in warning messages. If the speed of a cyclone is more than 74 mph, then it becomes necessary to give it a special name.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific (ESCAP) have been naming cyclonic storms since 2000 only. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) names the cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean, including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, since September 2004. It also issues advisories to 12 other nations in the region, from Bangladesh to the Maldives: Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen.

This writer had witnessed one such occasion before the naming of a cyclone actually began in the Indian Ocean. In November 2009, an extremely severe cyclonic storm impacted across Tamil Nadu. The thunderstorm persisted over the Andaman Sea, circulating over Thailand, and finally dissipated over the Arabian Sea through Tamil Nadu. A day prior to the fateful day of November 29, the dark and dusty skies covered the city of Chennai. People got scared and even afraid to stay home inside for fear of high winds rotating inward at low barometric pressure and depression.

 Residents reported a period of calm lasting about 45 minutes, but the ruins crumbled to dust, and the dust blew away with the wind, resulting in human deaths and widespread rainfall. We were stuck in the mess for over three days without electricity or water. However, heavy rainfall peaking at 450 mm and high winds peaking at 115 mph knocked down trees, paddy fields, and damaged houses, while flooding washed away buildings and inundated large parts of the town by the sea.

We shook our heads in disbelief in the in the aftermath of the cyclone, when the Tambaram Aerodrome inflicted massive damage. The crown of the ATC fell down in disbelief. The whole runway was covered by fallen trees and grasses. On the other hand, the cyclone was named arbitrarily after BOB 5 (Bay of Bengal) without systematically.

In the last year, another cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ (disaster in Bengali) arrived on June 15, 2023, and intense rainfall led to flooding in parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. The recent cyclone resulted in deaths and extensive damage in the Barak valley, yet people would be reminded of the particular name ‘Remal’ despite the devastation.

And I sing today with the lines of William Wordsworth from “After the Storm.” There was a roaring in the wind all night; the rain came heavily and fell in floods; but now the sun is rising calmly and brightly; the birds are singing in the distant woods; and the people will soon repair their small dwellings after the devastating cyclone.