The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has confirmed it will be skipping over the name “Anthony” for the next tropical cyclone to hit our shores in order to avoid confusion with Australia’s current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Cyclone Zelia, which recently made landfall in Western Australia, marked the end of the BoM’s alphabetical list for this cyclone season, resetting the naming system back to A.
And according to its approved names, the next storm on the list was set to be named “Anthony”. But with PM Albanese currently at the helm, the bureau was compelled to pivot.
The change is believed to have been undertaken earlier this month.
“When a name matches a prominent person of the time, we reorder to the next name starting with that same letter to avoid any confusion,” a BoM spokesperson confirmed to AAP on Monday.
And with that, Cyclone Anthony was out and Cyclone Alfred is in.
While the move might seem a bit out of left field, it’s actually part of BoM’s long-standing protocol to name storms based on a predetermined list, which alternates male and female names in alphabetical order.
“The list is divided into five sections, each with names from A–Z. When a cyclone needs a name, we take the next name in alphabetical order from section that is in use,” BoM explained.
“For example, a cyclone named Imogen is followed by Joshua, then Kimi.
“When we reach the end of the section, we move to the first name on the next section.”
The bureau officially adopted a policy of naming cyclones in 1963, with the first cyclones to have official names were Audrey and Bessie in January 1964.
The naming convention helps with communication, it pointed out, raising public awareness of the dangerous storms and reducing confusion if there are several cyclones at the same time.
The bureau added that it also permanently retires names from the list, if a cyclone severely affects the coast and results in significant damage and sometimes loss of life.
“For example, Tracy has been retired after the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Tracy in 1974,” it explained.
Looking ahead, it could be an interesting turn of events if the Coalition — led by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton — were to win the next election, given “Peta” is the next P name on the list, some 16 cyclones on from now.
The AAP clarified BoM did not respond when asked about that one.
At least this should make for a fun question at your next trivia night?
Lead image: AAP Photos and Wagner Meier/Getty Images
With input from the AAP.
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