Important Cyclones 2019-2020

January 22, 2020 Source: PIB & IMD

NAME OF THE ORIGIN, & AREAS OF NAMED BY SPECIAL FEATURE CYCLONE/STORM AFFECTED Origin: Pabuk originated as a tropical disturbance in the • It was the South China earliest-forming Sea(Gulf of storm in both Thailand) on the Northwestern December 28, 2018, Pacific Ocean which organized and North Indian into a tropical Ocean basins on Pabuk is a depression on record. name given December 31. A day • Forming on the by Laos and later, on January last day of PABUK means a 1, 2019, the system 2018, Pabuk ‘big intensified into a persisted into freshwater tropical storm and 2019, spanning fish’. was named Pabuk two calendar Areas Affected: years, and Malaya Peninsula, crossed into the Andaman, and North Indian Nicobar, , Ocean basin Vietnam, The several days adjoining areas of later. east-central and south-east • The second named storm and the first severe cyclonic storm of the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season Origin: Fani The name of • According to originated from a the Cyclone the IMD, in the tropical depression ‘Fani’, past 126 years that formed west of pronounced (1891-2017) only Sumatra in the as ‘Foni’ 14 severe Indian Ocean on 26 was tropical FANI April. suggested cyclones have Areas Affected: by formed in April , West . over the Bay of Bengal, Andra It means Bengal. Pradesh, East ‘Snake’ or • Out of those, India, Bangladesh, ‘hood of only one storm , the snake’. crossed the Indian mainland. • Cyclone Fani was the second storm to form in April and cross the mainland. • It was the Origin: Vayu strongest originated from a low-pressure area to affect the that was first Saurashtra noted by the India Peninsula of Meteorological northwestern Department (IMD) on The name India since the 9 June, near the Vayu was 1998 Gujarat northern Maldives. provided by cyclone After consolidating India, and • Vayu was the into a depression, is derived third tropical VAYU the storm tracked from a depression, slowly north- Sanskrit third cyclonic northwestward over and Hindi storm and second the eastern Arabian word very severe Sea, and reached meaning cyclonic storm cyclonic storm ‘wind’. of the 2019 intensity late on North Indian 10 June. Ocean cyclone Areas Affected: season, and the the ‎Maldives, first of which India(Gujarat), to form in the Pakistan, Oman Arabian Sea. The name Origin: Arabian ‘Hikka’ or Sea ‘Makunu HIKAA Areas Affected: Hikka’ has – Gujarat, Oman, been given Saudi Arabia, Yemen by the Maldives After crossing the Indochinese Peninsula, Severe • It is only the Tropical fourth tropical Storm cyclone ever Matmo’s recorded to remnants regenerate over entered the the Andaman Sea, Andaman having crossed Origin: Andaman Sea. It Southeast Asia Sea/ Bay of Bengal began to overland (thus Areas Affected: organize sharing with the BULBUL Myanmar, Andaman over the name Matmo in and Nicobar southern operational JTWC Islands, Eastern Bay of advisories). India, Bangladesh Bengal in • In addition, the it is only the beginning second to make of it to hurricane November, strength, the then it first being in slowly 1960 intensified into a cyclonic storm as it moved north. • It was a super cyclonic storm. • It was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the first super cyclonic storm in the North Origin: East- Indian Ocean central Arabian Sea since Gonu in Areas Affected: 2007. KYAR Myanmar Western India, • It was also Oman, Yemen, the strongest Somalia tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea ever recorded and the second-most intense tropical cyclone in North Indian Ocean history, only behind the . Origin: Arabian Sea It was an Areas Affected: Sri MAHA Pakistan extremely severe Lanka, Southern cyclonic storm India, Maldives, Western India, Oman Origin: Southwestern It was the 5th Arabian Sea, east cyclone to enter PAWAN Sri Lanka of Somalia the Arabian sea Areas Affected: in 2019 India, Somalia The naming of cyclones over North Indian Ocean

The names of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea are decided by eight countries. Each of them lists out eight names which are approved by the weathermen of these countries. So each time the list has 64 names. The countries take turns to name the cyclones. The first cyclone named by India was Agni, in 2004, and the last one was Vayu in 2019

The countries that get to name the cyclones are India, Pakistan, Oman, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand