During World War II, tropical cyclones were informally given women’s names by US Army Air Corp and Navy meteorologists (after their girlfriends or wives) who were monitoring and forecasting tropical cyclones over the Pacific. • From 1950 to 1952, tropical cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean were identified by the phonetic alphabet (Able-Baker-Charlie-etc. • The Northwest Pacific basin tropical cyclones were given women’s names officially starting in 1945 and men’s names were also included beginning in 1979. • The Southwest Indian Ocean tropical cyclones were first named during the 1960/1961 season. Previous major cyclones in IndiaPHAILIN, 2013Phailin was the second-strongest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall in India, behind only the 1999 Odisha cyclone.

Source: Hindustan Times October 27, 2016 07:13 UTC