NEW DELHI: Cyclone Montha, brewing over the Arabian Sea, is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and make landfall along the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, by Tuesday evening, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
What does ‘Montha’ mean
The name Montha meaning “beautiful” or “fragrant flower” was suggested by Thailand, one of the 13 member countries of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UN ESCAP panel that governs cyclone naming in the North Indian Ocean region. Each name is used only once and never repeated.In the North Indian Ocean, which includes the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, cyclone naming is managed by the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones. This panel includes 13 countries: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Oman, Yemen, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Each member submits a list of names that reflect their culture, language, or natural environment. The names are then used sequentially whenever a new cyclone reaches the intensity required to be officially named by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which acts as the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for this region. Each country has submitted 13 names, forming a list of 169 names used sequentially and alphabetically. Names are neutral to gender, politics, and religion. The first cyclone of this season, Shakhti, suggested by Sri Lanka, formed earlier this month in the Arabian Sea but spared the Indian coast.The cyclone is likely to bring heavy rain across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu with red alerts issued for several coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. After Montha, the next cyclones will be named Senyar (UAE), Ditwah (Yemen), Arnab (Bangladesh), and Murasu (India). The naming system began in 2004, following a decision by the WMO and ESCAP in 2000, to make communication about tropical storms simpler and more effective for public awareness and disaster management.
