Last Sunday, I heard about the difference between cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons. My initial reaction was, “Really? That’s it?” and so I did a little research and confirmed that the info I got, although incomplete, was correct.
At the time of writing, the Philippines is under siege by a storm called Typhoon Labuyo (international name: Utor). When it leaves the Philippines, I know that it will have a different name. But will it still be classified as a typhoon? Or will it then be called a hurricane?
Let me point out first that cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons are all storms. A storm, as defined by the weather.gov glossary, is “[a]ny disturbed state of the atmosphere, especially affecting the Earth’s surface.” Examples are sandstorms and thunderstorms. However, what we are interested in right now are the ones classified as tropical cyclones.
A tropical cyclone is a type of storm with a low-pressure center, strong winds, and a spiral circulation of winds, which is the common image conjured when people hear the word cyclone. Technically, what we call a typhoon or others call a hurricane is a tropical cyclone. The key characteristic that differentiates them is – will you believe – the location of the tropical cyclone. In Wikipedia, the definitions for hurricane and typhoon both practically start with “…is a tropical cyclone that is in… .”
As a summary from weather.gov:
- Hurricane – Atlantic, Carribean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or eastern Pacific;
- Typhoon – Western Pacific Ocean;
- Cyclone – Indian Ocean (according to top contributing meteorologist at Yahoo Answers).
Notice that although cyclone is a general term, the ones that develop over the Indian Ocean are called Cyclones (usually with a capital C to indicate that it’s a proper name). An example of a notable one is Cyclone Aila in 2009.
I’m certainly not looking forward to any weather disturbance, but I guess as long as I’m in this part of the world, I’ll never experience a Hurricane.
Or a Cyclone with a capital C.
Something of Everything 