Forecast Track of Cyclone Gulab
(TWC Met Team)
Tauktae, Amphan, Fani, Titli, Bulbul, Gaja… And now Gulab. As and when cyclones with intriguing names approach the Indian coasts, a common question comes to our minds: who names these storms?
Every Hindi and Urdu speaker would understand that the word ‘Gulab’ (pronounced as Gul-Aab) means Rose. And Pakistan, not India, proposed this name! Similarly, the previous cyclone that hit the east coast of India, Cyclone Yaas, was named as per the proposal from Oman.
But why do Pakistan and Oman get to name cyclones that hit India? Countries surrounding a particular basin name the storms originating in that basin, usually years before they even form! And therefore, all the 13 countries sharing the Indian Ocean basin have already provided a long list of 169 names, with each country proposing 13 names. The names are chosen one after the other from…
