At the start of the 1958-59 season, the New Caledonia Meteorological Service introduced a naming scheme and started to assign female names to tropical cyclones, that occurred in the region in order to identify them in their public bulletins.[1][2] Over the next few seasons, New Caledonia continued to name tropical cyclones before in November 1962, they proposed to the third session of the World Meteorological Organizations Regional Association V, that all tropical cyclones in the region should be named using female names.[1][2] Members of the association suggested that male names might have to be used instead of female names, in order to avoid any confusion with those names used in the Northern Hemisphere.[2] These proposals were examined by the association, which realised that any naming or numbering scheme used on a regional basis, would need very close coordination to avoid confusion or duplication.[2] The association suggested that there was no real need for a regional naming scheme in the Southern Hemisphere, but had no objections to its members using a naming scheme assuming that the names were not duplicated.[2]
In October 1963, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology decided to follow international practises and introduce a scheme for tropical cyclones to be named, whenever it was determined that a system had developed.[3][4] The BoM's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers (TCWCs) in Perth, Darwin and Brisbane were each allocated a separate list of fourteen female names, that started with every third letter, while the letters Q, X, Y and Z were not used.[3][4] The names were designed to be used in public bulletins, allocated in alphabetical order by the warning centre concerned and on the first indication that a tropical cyclone had developed within their individual area of responsibility.[3][4] It was also decided that should a tropical cyclone would retain its original name, should it move into another TCWC's area of responsibility.[3][4] The first name was assigned to Tropical Cyclone Bessie by TCWC Perth on January 6, 1964, before TCWC Brisbane named Tropical Cyclone Audrey later that month.[5] Over the next two years, these naming lists were used by the individual warning centres, before a fresh list of 90 female names was introduced ahead of the 1965-66 season.[5][6][7]
New Zealand Meteorological Service's Nadi Weather Office started to name tropical cyclones during the 1969-70 season, with the first name assigned to Alice on January 4, 1970.[8] Over the next few years, it was commonly believed that tropical cyclones were named after women as they were fickle, wayward and unpredictable.[8] Within the South Pacific tropical cyclone basin,, during the
- ^ a b Kerr, Ian S (March 1, 1976). Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in the southwest Pacific: November 1939 to May 1969 (PDF) (Report). New Zealand Meteorological Service. pp. 23–28. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Regional Association V (South-West Pacific) Abridged Final Report of the Third Session Noumea, November 5 - 17, 1962 (Report). World Meteorological Organization. pp. 31–32. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Tropic Storms are Female Says Bureau". The Age. November 28, 1963. p. 3.
- ^ a b c d "Naming of Tropical Cyclones by Australia". Mariners Weather Log. Vol. 8, no. 2. March 1964. pp. 13–14.
- ^ a b Lourensz R.S. (1981). Tropical Cyclones in the Australian Region July 1909 - June 1980. Australian Bureau of Meteorology. ISBN 0642017182.
- ^ "Cyclone Season". Torres News. Queensland, Australia. December 28, 1965. p. 13. Retrieved April 27, 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "WILD WOMEN". Walkabout. 32 (2). 1966. ISSN 0043-0064. Retrieved April 27, 2022 – via Trove.
- ^ a b Smith, Ray (1990). "What's in a Name?". Weather and Climate. 10 (1): 24–26. doi:10.2307/44279572. JSTOR 44279572. S2CID 201717866.