Outlook Web Desk
Cyclone Remal is expected to make landfall between the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on Sunday midnight, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The cyclone was named by Oman, following the standard convention of naming tropical cyclones in the region. In Arabic, Remal means "sand".
Cyclone Remal is the first cyclone over the Bay of Bengal in this pre-monsoon season.
Tropical cyclones are named by six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) and five Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs), including the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
The decision to name tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea was made in 2000 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)/Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC).
The PTC has 13 member nations, including India, Bangladesh, and Oman, which proposed different names in September 2004. The IMD later issued a new list of cyclone names after the WMO/ESCAP PTC finalised and adopted them.
Naming a cyclone serves several purposes, including aiding the scientific community, media, disaster managers, and the general public to identify the cyclone, creating awareness about its development, and facilitating the efficient dissemination of warnings.