How Cyclone Asani got its name and Sri Lanka’s role in naming it

Cyclone Asani, which is eucrrently over the north Andaman Sea since Monday evening, is the year’s first cyclone and the first to form in in the month of March in nearly two decades, said a report published by the Hindustan Times.

It said: Expected to bring heavy rainfall in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the cyclone has been named ‘Asani’ by Sri Lanka. In Sinhala, which is one of the official languages, and the most widely-spoken in the country, ‘Asani’ translates to ‘wrath’.

In all, there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) authorised to issued advisories for and name tropical cyclones. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), is among the six RSMCs, and provides advisories to a dozen countries, besides India. These are: Bangladesh, Iran, the Malvides, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen.

According to a list posted by the IMD in April 2020, there are 169 names that can be used for nomenclature of cyclones; each country has proposed 13 titles. These are listed country-wise, and the nations are arranged alphabetically. The names are picked sequentially in such a way that the countries, one after the other, get to decide names.

This time, it was Sri Lanka’s pick, and hence Cyclone Asani came to be known as such. India allots names for cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean, including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Cyclones are named to avoid confusion in case there are multiple weather systems in sea or ocean at the same time.