WMO adopts Gaenari as new typhoon name to replace Goni

Typhoon Mindulle traveling northbound toward Japan, is seen in this Sep. 29, 2021, satellite image from NASA. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has adopted Gaenari as a new typhoon name to replace Goni. AP-Yonhap

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has adopted Gaenari, the Korean word for the native yellow flowering tree known as forsythia koreana, as a new typhoon name to replace Goni, the Korean weather agency said Wednesday.

The WMO maintains rotating lists of names to label tropical cyclones in each region. If a typhoon is too devastating, then its name is retired and replaced by a new one, with 14 members of the body's typhoon committee each contributing 10 names.

Goni, a Korean word for swan contributed by Korea, retired after Super Typhoon Goni in the Philippines in 2020 killed more than a dozen people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Korea proposed Gaenari as a substitute through a public contest last year, and the typhoon committee has formally adopted it in a recent session, the Korea Meteorological Administration said.

The turn of Gaenari will come after 111 tropical cyclones are identified and named by the WMO in the future. Given a total of 25 typhoons each year on average, it is expected to take at least four years to see a typhoon named Gaenari. (Yonhap)