During the latter part of the Second World War, forecasters with the United States Armed Forces started to informally name tropical cyclones, that occurred in both the Northern and Southern Pacific Oceans.[1] They found the practice to be useful as it was shorter, quicker and less confusing then the old system of

After the 1979 tropical cyclone conference, the JTWC decided to start naming tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific, of at least tropical storm strength by alternating male and female names.[2]


On January 1, 1996, the JTWC started to use a new list of American and English male and female names for tropical cyclones over the region, however, this list of names only ended up being used until December 31, 2000, when the Japan Meteorological Agency started naming tropical cyclones on behalf of the Typhoon Committee.[3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ Smith, Ray (1990). "What's in a Name?". Weather and Climate. 10 (1): 24–26. doi:10.2307/44279572. JSTOR 44279572. S2CID 201717866.
  2. ^ "1979 Tropical Cyclone Report" (PDF).
  3. ^ ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee. Report of the Typhoon Committee on its Twenty-Eighth Session (PDF). World Meteorological Organization. p. 11, IV6.
  4. ^ https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/datacenter/names.html?fbclid=IwAR2okZ_yrI8pMeePm7oszkdcchoYXjcPCL9alsV-n8kWz6vVWisFsin3w5g