Communities in Queensland are bracing for a tropical cyclone expected to make landfall on Thursday.
One month after Cyclone Jasper, this latest weather system will be called Tropical Cyclone Kirrily.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has been naming cyclones since 1963. It does this to increase public awareness of a weather event and reduce confusion when there are several cyclones at the same time.
How are cyclones named?
The BOM has an approved list for cyclones.
This list is divided into five alphabetical sections with alternating male and female names.
“When a cyclone needs a name, we take the next name in alphabetical order from section that is in use. For example, a cyclone named Imogen is followed by Joshua, then Kimi,” the BOM said.
After Cyclone Kirrily, the next names on the list are Lincoln, Megan and Neville.
When the BOM reaches the end of the current section (which will finish with ‘Zelia’), it will move onto the next A-Z name section, starting with Anthony.
Only female names were used until the BOM updated its list in 1979.
