Hurricane vs. Cyclone

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov ^ | July 9, 2006 | Belle Rouge

[Belle Rouge]

I have been a subscriber for several years now and this hurricane daily reports from the National Hurricane Center is now using the term "cyclone" in place of "hurricane". I am confused and would like to know why this has changed.

If anyone knows, I would appreciate a response.

Thanks.

[battlegearboat]

Just to add to your confusion, you may add Typhoons and Tropical Cyclones to the mix.

[battlegearboat]

It's Bush's fault.

[CarrotAndStick]

'Hurricane' is US English, I guess.

'Cyclone' is the same thing, but used commonly in India and Australia.

'Typhoon' is used in East Asia.

All of the above, IIRC. Correct me if I am wrong.

[Condor51]

From the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary;

• Hurricane: a violent wind which has a circular movement, especially found in the West Atlantic Ocean
• Cyclone: a violent tropical storm or wind in which the air moves very fast in a circular direction
• Typhoon: a violent wind which has a circular movement, found in the West Pacific Ocean

So basically they're all the same, it just depends on the location.

[tet68]

So in the interest of Multioceanic equality we should
name the storms, #1. Hurricane Ann, #2. Cyclone Bill,
#3. Typhoon Cindy......repeat.

I actually prefer Typhoon, although Divine Wind comes a
close second.

[bwteim]

LOL.

FWIW, your NOAA site has the answer, belle rouge...

What is a Hurricane?
A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone, which is a generic term for a low pressure system that generally forms in the tropics. The cyclone is accompanied by thunderstorms and, in the Northern Hemisphere, a counterclockwise circulation of winds near the earth's surface. Tropical cyclones are classified as follows:
...Tropical Depression
...Tropical Storm
...Hurricane

So, all hurricanes are cyclones, not all cyclones are hurricanes. And the 'hurricanes' out in the Pacific are called typhoons or willy willies.

See
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/basics.shtml

[dufekin]

The term "cyclone" is very generic; it merely refers to a closed counterclockwise circulation (in the Northern Hemisphere or a clockwise circulation in the Southern Hemisphere). By a "closed circulation," we mean one in which "streamlines" circle completely around the center of circulation; the wind must blow from southerly to easterly to northerly to westerly and back to southerly as one moves around the vortex. The term "cyclone" refers strictly to the wind field (usually at the surface unless qualified, as in "upper-air cyclone"); however, almost all cyclones coexist with areas of low pressure and often bring precipitation in most parts of the world.

A cyclone qualifies as a type of "vortex." Some vortexes do not qualify as cyclones because they lack a closed circulation. These vortexes typically take the form of troughs or waves moving so quickly or embedded in flow sufficiently strong that air does not return in the direction against the strong environmental flow.

Cyclones include large ocean storms like the Aleutian low, transient extra-tropical cyclones like noreasters, tropical cyclones, mesocyclones, and most tornadoes. A "tropical cyclone" typically originates in the tropics with a warm core and no fronts. Most tropical cyclones are relatively symmetric, especially at maturity. It derives its energy not from temperature contrasts (e.g., snow-covered coast versus warm ocean currents) but from hot water and usually thrives in areas of little spatial temperature contrast.

A "hurricane" requires wind at least 64 knots (averaged over one minute) in a "tropical cyclone" within the Northern and Western Hemispheres. To further sew confusion, in other parts of the world, these storms go by different names, usually "typhoon" and simply "Cyclone." All hurricanes, typhoons, and other tropical cyclones now carry names, for example, Wilma, Forrest, and Zoe. A "hurricane-force wind" can occur anywhere, not necessarily in a tropical cyclone or hurricane. A tropical cyclone that does not meet the hurricane-force wind requirement is called a "tropical storm" if it has gale-force winds and a "tropical depression" if its winds do not exceed gale force.

[arthurus]

"Cyclone" is the generic for vortices of air. I suspect that MSM is considering converting its reporting to use of the word "cyclone" exclusively so that they can have tense scary reportage of a much larger class of "events" many of which do not even qualify as storms. Actual storms are called 'Hurricanes' east of the International Date Line through the Atlantic Ocean and 'Typhoons' west of that line into the Indian Ocean. Hawaii gets Hurricanes. "Tropical Storms" is the term used for dangerous storms that have windspeed of a little less than official hurricane strength. I think this development in weather reporting is possible because I have watched nail biting reporting of impending storms wherein they had to have big fans blowing on the reporters because there was not much wind as the "storm" was kind of a wimp. My daughter worked at the station so I found out for sure that what looked like fan driven "wind" was fan driven wind.