Hurricane? Cyclone? Typhoon? Here’s the difference
Typhoon Kalmaegi has claimed at least 114 lives in the Philippines and left many more missing as it moved on to strike Vietnam. Residents are cleaning up and returning to their damaged homes after the storm caused widespread devastation in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines.
“Typhoon Kalmaegi has killed at least 114 people in the Philippines with even more missing and then hit Vietnam Friday.”
A second typhoon, Fong-Wong, is expected to hit the Philippines around Sunday and strengthen into a major storm by then.
These storms are all officially called tropical cyclones, but they are named differently depending on their location:
- In the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and central and northeast Pacific, they are called hurricanes.
- In the northwest Pacific, they are typhoons.
- In the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, they are cyclones.
- In the southwest Indian Ocean, they are tropical cyclones.
- In the southwestern Pacific and southeastern Indian Ocean, they are severe tropical cyclones.
A storm is named and classified as a tropical storm once it reaches 39 mph (63 kph). It becomes a hurricane, typhoon, tropical cyclone, or cyclone at 74 mph (119 kph).
Author’s summary: Tropical cyclones have various names worldwide based on their location, and their classification depends on wind speed, starting from tropical storms to powerful cyclones.