Well, TD 10 did develop into Tropical Storm Malou; however, it doesn’t appear that it’s going to gain any more strength before its demise, and it’s predicted path takes it close to the east coast of China and then shows it veering northeast across the Yellow Sea (the West Sea, to Koreans) to make landfall in North Korea. I doubt that it will have much affect on Yeosu if the predictions are correct.
By the way, Malou is a Chinese word meaning “agate” or “chalcedony” according to the Pacific Storm Tracker on Stars and Stripes. I much prefer the naming system for typhoons than I do the American naming of hurricanes. I mean, hurricanes get named for every Tom, Dick and Mary–literally. US weather is acquainted with hurricanes on a hum-drum, first-name basis. Here in the Far East, the typhoon names are much more exotic and evocative in meaning–chalcedony, mythological gods and goddesses, trees, rainbow and even milk pudding. Here’s a list of the current typhoon names adopted by the “Typhoon Committee for the western North Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.” Malou is in Column IV near the bottom of the list. It looks like in a year or so they might have to compile a new list.
Another thing you’ll notice about the list, if you look, is that many countries in the area contribute to the naming, not just one country. The US is even on the list of contributors. I think it would be interesting to name some hurricanes in Spanish, the other predominant language of the Americas. How about Hurricane Merengue or Arco Iris (rainbow) for starters?
Furthermore, many Atlantic hurricanes are born off the coast of Africa, so there could even be a few African references thrown in. I think it would make for a vastly more interesting naming system.
