The Hong Kong Observatory announced the results of the vote to shortlist 20 names that will be included in a reserve list for future tropical cyclone names. Milktea emerged as the favourite, followed by Tsing-ma, Fo-lung, Dim-sum, and Sparrow. The meteorological body will submit the list to the Typhoon Committee so they can consider them when replacing typhoon names that are retired due to serious casualties and economic losses.
Some of the other names that made the cut pay homage to Hong Kong cultural icons, such as food staple Red-bean and Stoneslab, the nickname for Pottinger Street. Siu-lung, the stage name of the late martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, also emerged as a potential tropical cyclone name, as did Sing-si, the Cantonese name for Lion Dance.
Last month, the Hong Kong Observatory announced that residents of the city could vote for 40 potential tropical cyclone names that were submitted by members of the public in mid-2023. Some of the entries that did not make it to the final 20 were Jia Jia and An An— the famously long-lived giant pandas who resided at Ocean Park until their demise — as well as Ying Ying and Le Le, the current park pandas who turned 18 last August.
Since 2000, the 14 members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific/World Meteorological Organization Typhoon Committee have used a list to assign names to tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea. The current list includes 10 names submitted by Hong Kong, such as the Signal T8 Lion Rock that hit Hong Kong in October 2016, and Yun-yeung that affected Japan in September 2023.
Header image credits: janetcmt via Flickr, chpua & Leung Cho Pan via Canva
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