Hurricane Basins and Regional Naming Conventions

Tropical cyclones form in seven recognized ocean basins, each monitored by one or more Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) or Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres designated under the World Meteorological Organization: the North Atlantic and the Northeast Pacific, both overseen by the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami; the Northwest Pacific, overseen by the Japan Meteorological Agency; the North Indian Ocean, overseen by the India Meteorological Department; the Southwest Indian Ocean, overseen by Météo-France's office on Réunion Island; and the Australian and South Pacific regions, covered jointly by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, Papua New Guinea, Fiji's Meteorological Service, and New Zealand. Basin terminology reflects this regional division even though the underlying storm system is physically identical: the same intensity of warm-core cyclone is called a hurricane in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, a typhoon in the Northwest Pacific, and simply a (severe) tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean and Southern Hemisphere basins.