Hurricanes , cyclone , and typhoons are all types of tropic storms capable of evoke up substantial destruction and release of human lifetime . Despite their differing name , however , there ’s actually very short difference between them .
What’s the difference between hurricanes and typhoons?
Theonly differencebetween a hurricane , a typhoon , and a cyclone is where in the world the storm occurs :
It ’s called ahurricaneif it ’s in the North Atlantic , fundamental North Pacific , or easterly North Pacific oceans .
It ’s called atyphoonif occurs over the Northwest Pacific Ocean to the east of Asia ,
Depending on where they occur, tropical cyclones have different names. Image credit: UK MetOffice
Meanwhile , it ’s called acycloneif it occurs in the Indian Ocean and parts of the South Pacific .
There ’s no clear reason why we still beat to this system other than ante up homage to the part of the world where the word emerge .
The Good Book hurricanestems fromthe Spanish discussion huracán , which relate to the Maya god of wind , storm , and fervency called Huracan . The earliest write purpose of the term dates to around the mid-16th century by Spanish colonialists sail to the Americas .
The parentage of the word typhoon is n’t totally clean , but it ’s remember tohave ties tothe word tufan , which appear in Greek , Arabic , Chinese , and Hindi , imply something like " big cyclonical storm . "
Generally speaking , we can refer to all three as tropic cyclones .
A tropical cyclone can is defined as a chop-chop spread out storm with a low - pressure level center and clouds gyrate towards the eyewall beleaguer the " eye , ” according to theWorld Meteorological Organization . As a result of Earth ’s gyration , the winds blow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere .
This swirling mass of tearing wind can be vast , with its diam typically spanning 200 to 500 klick ( 124 to 310 miles ) , but able of pass up to 1,000 kilometers ( 621 miles ) . It ’s defined as a tropical depression when the maximal free burning wind focal ratio is less than 63 kilometers ( 39 Admiralty mile ) per hour . Once it gathers a maximal free burning wind speed that ’s quicker than this , it can be delimitate as a tropical cyclone .
Why do we name hurricanes?
no matter of whether you ’re dealing with ahurricane , cyclone , or typhoon , they will often be devote a name if they reach a sure strength , scale , and potential for destruction . These name are generally assigned to them from predetermine lists , depending on the drainage basin in which they originate .
For hurricanes , these names tend to be human names . In 2023 , for instance , they will be named Arlene , Bret , Cindy , Don , Emily , Franklin , and so on .
The purpose of the designation system , which was first rolled out in the 1950s , is to streamline communication about the violent storm . After all , masses are more likely to acknowledge and remember a violent storm with a personable name , rather than just a inclination of dactyl or a date .
The names ofthe deadliest storms , such as Hurricane Katrina , are retired as a mark of deference for the devastation and loss they caused .
