How Was Cyclone Mocha Named? All You Need To Know

A low-pressure area formed over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into Cyclone Mocha, which is expected to make landfall between Bangladesh and Myanmar and bring heavy rainfall to some parts of India. Like Cyclone Mocha, every tropic cyclone is given a name which helps in its identification and makes it easy to issue warnings and create awareness about the cyclone's development.

How was Cyclone Mocha named?

Yemen suggested the name ‘Mocha', which is supposed to be pronounced as Mokha. The cyclone has been named after a Red Sea port city known for its coffee production. The city also gave its name to the popular beverage, café Mocha.

Tropical cyclones are named by six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMICs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs). The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is one of the six RSMCs.

Why are cyclones named?

Naming a cyclone serves several purposes. It helps the scientific community, media, disaster managers, and common people to identify the cyclone, create awareness about its development, remove confusion if another tropical cyclone is developed in the region, and rapidly and effectively disseminate warnings to a wider audience.

In 2000, the twenty-seventh session of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) decided to name tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The panel has 13 members countries including India, Bangladesh, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Maldives, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Qatar.

The naming of the cyclones started in September 2004 when the member countries proposed different names.

In 202, the IMD issued a new list of names for cyclones after it was finalised and adopted by the WMO/ESCAP PTC. The list contained 169 names where 13 names each were suggested by the 13 member countries of the panel. Mocha was one of the names suggested by Yemen.

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