No, not all cyclones are given female names

WHY are cyclones always given female names? This is the question on many people’s minds in the aftermath of tropical cyclone Eloise.

While it is true that cyclones used to be assigned women’s names – supposedly because cyclones are as fickle as women can be – this changed as long ago as 1979 when male names were introduced to the naming process.

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Originally, cyclones were given random names, but in 1953 a system was put in place, naming them alphabetically from a pre-defined list determined by the National Hurricane Centre in the USA.

These days, the meteorological authority at each basin in which the cyclone occurs has control over the list of names that will be used.

A name beginning with the letter ‘A’ marks the start of the cyclone season for that particular year, and as the year wears on, so the alphabetical list is used.

Names are organised and overseen by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organisation and six lists of alphabetically listed, pre-defined names are used on a rotational basis.

So the list used in 2019 will be the same as the list that will be used in 2025. A name is only retired from the list when a cyclone is so devastating in the damage it causes, that using the name again would be insensitive.

Examples of these are Katrina (USA, 2005), Sandy (USA, 2012), Mitch (Honduras, 1998) and Haiyan (Philippines, 2013).

Each country within the particular cyclone basin contributes names, and those used in the southwest Indian Ocean area (in which South Africa falls) are validated by the Tropical Cyclone Committee.

Now that Eloise has passed, the next cyclone will be named Faraji (contributed by Kenya), followed by Guambe (contributed by Mozambique), followed by Habana (contributed by Botswana), all the way to Zacarias (contributed by Mozambique).

Did you know?
While Domoina is the stick by which all tropical cyclones (in South Africa, anyway) are measured, she never intensified to tropical cyclone status.

Domoina was a severe tropical storm (one notch below cyclone status), with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 95km/h.

It was her proximity to South Africa (she made landfall in Maputo) which caused South Africa to suffer 100-year floods.

Twenty-nine river banks in South Africa burst their banks from Domoina and she even caused the Pongola River to alter its course.

Flooding caused the Pongolapoort Dam to reach 87% capacity and when water was released to maintain its structural integrity, further flooding was caused in Mozambique, forcing thousands to evacuate.

Eloise, in comparison, was a tropical cyclone by the time she made landfall in Mozambique, with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 130km/h.

However, owing to the area in which she made landfall (Beira – over 1 000km north of Maputo), she did not affect northern KZN.

Tropical cyclone Kenneth is the strongest system to have made landfall in Mozambique since records began.

It was an intense tropical cyclone (one level from the most severe), with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 215km/h.

Kenneth killed 52 people in total – 45 in Mozambique and seven in the Comores. The damage it caused is estimated at $100-million.

It made landfall in northern Mozambique on 25 April 2019.

Cyclones are erratic, making it extremely difficult for meteorologists to issue long- or even medium-range predictions of their path and intensity.

Sources: 
World Meteorological Organisation
South African Geographical Journal

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