A storm is brewing: Hurricane, cyclone or typhoon?

Yesterday, we discussed a disturbance brewing in the East Pacific. There are several different categories and classifications for storm systems, so we thought we'd take this opportunity to explore their differences.

If you missed that article, you can check it out here.

Tropical systems are defined by an organised, circulating area of thunderstorms that originate over tropical or sub-tropical waters, with high sea surface temperatures.

Based on their strength, systems fall into categories from weaker to stronger, from tropical waves and disturbances, to tropical depressions, tropical storms and tropical cyclones, largely based on their sustained wind speeds.

The term ‘tropical cyclone’ tends to be more of an overarching generic term, but is also known as a hurricane, typhoon or cyclone, depending on its geographical location.

A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific Oceans.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th to November 30th, whilst the Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t begin until June 1st.

This is primarily because climatologically, sea surface temperatures are lower in the Atlantic than the Eastern Pacific during the month of May, and so this means there is less energy to fuel any potential developments.

As consequence, the Eastern Pacific Basin tends to see a greater number of earlier tropical systems form, especially category 3 and above in May.

In the US, the jet stream also begins migrating northwards from the US/Mexico border towards the US/Canada border in summer, with the high wind shear from the jet stream also tending to be a limiting factor for development.

However, just because a season starts and ends on a specific date doesn’t mean that systems cannot form outside of this window, it is just less likely, with 97% of tropical activity tending to occur within the official window.

A typhoon, meteorologically, is the exact same as a hurricane. The key difference here, is that they are confined to the Northwest Pacific, between 180° to 100° E in the Northern Hemisphere.

In this region, typhoons regularly occur all year round, though tends to be most active between July and November.

A cyclone, again meteorologically the same, tend to be more specific to the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, cyclones here tend to mainly occur from November through to May.

So, with the oceans revving up their engines over the coming days and weeks, all eyes will be on the tropics. Join us on our journey as we closely following this year's storm season, starting with the East Pacific Basin.

But can we get tropical cyclones here in Great Britain? Keep your eyes peeled for a myth buster coming later this week.