Who named Cyclone Asani and how did tradition begin

New Delhi, Mar 21: Cyclone Asani would be the first cyclone in March since the past two decades.

The Depression over north Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal, moved north-northeastwards at a speed of 08 kmph during last 06 hours and lay centered at 2330 hours IST of 20th March, over north Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal, near latitude 11.3°N and longitude 93.4°E, about 250 km north-northeast of Car Nicobar (Nicobar Islands), 80 km east-southeast of Port Blair (Andaman Islands) and 680 km south-southwest of Yangon (Myanmar). It is likely to move nearly northwards along & off Andaman & Nicobar Islands, intensify into a deep depression during next 12 hours and into a cyclonic storm during subsequent 12 hours, the India Meteorological Department said.

Check detained press note of the India Meteorological Department here:

Cyclone Asani is a name given by Sri Lanka. Asani roughly translates into Sinhala. According to the new list of cyclones announced in April 2020 there are 12 cyclone names each for the 12 member countries.

This takes the total number of cyclone names to 169.

Initially cyclones were not named, but the tradition began with a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean which was named Antje. Any tropical storm that reaches a sustained wind speed of 39 miles an hour is given a name.

Naming cyclones began in the Carribean islands. Cyclones were named after saint of the day from the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar.

In 1953 the US Weather Service created a new phonetic alphabet of women's names from A to W. The letters, Q, U, X, Y and Z were not used in pursuit for a more organised and efficient naming system.

However in 1978 the cyclones included male names as there were protests that by using women names, they were portraying them as destructive. The cyclones causing widespread damage and deaths usually retire. This means that the names are not used for another 10 years.