# Typhoon or Hurricane? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132 "2005-09-05T01:18:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/1 "2005-09-05T01:18:49Z")
What is the difference(s) between a typhoon and a hurricane? Is it just that one is in the Pacific? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/2 "2005-09-05T01:22:52Z")
Hurricane - Atlantic Typhoons - Pacific ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/3 "2005-09-05T01:25:59Z")
Aren’t they cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere, as well? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/4 "2005-09-05T01:33:39Z")
Yes. The storms were named before people realized they were all essentially the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/5 "2005-09-05T01:48:50Z")
About “cyclone”: The terms cyclone and anticyclone is meaningless. Weather books describe that any system has rotation, and they are deemed cyclones or anticyclones, depending on if a cold front or warm front. I will find a cite to quote, tomorrow. - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/6 "2005-09-05T01:53:14Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Hurricane - Atlantic > Typhoons - Pacific What about the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean? (I’ll leave the Arctic out since it’s frozen) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/7 "2005-09-05T01:56:06Z")
\*Cyclone \* is the term used for the storms that occur in the northern parts of Australia, the most famous being Cyclone Tracy that detroyed Darwin on Christmas Day 1974. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/8 "2005-09-05T02:00:04Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > What about the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean? (I’ll leave the Arctic out since it’s frozen) From [here](http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/glossary.htm) > [@](#): > > How tropical and extratropical cyclones differ > > Tropical cyclone > > ``` > * Forms over a tropical ocean. > * Center of storm is warmer than the surrounding air. > * Has no fronts. > * Strongest winds are near the Earth's surface. > > ``` > > Extratropical cyclone > > ``` > * Forms outside the tropics. > * Center of storm is colder than the surrounding air. > * Has fronts. > * Strongest winds in the upper atmosphere. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/9 "2005-09-05T02:24:49Z")
Atlantic and Eastern Pacific (West Coast of Mexico): Hurricane Western Pacific (Asia): Typhoon (from the Chinese “Ty” (Extreme), “Phoon” (wind). ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/10 "2005-09-05T05:30:22Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > What about the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean? I’ve read people asking about the Antarctic Ocean and now the Southern Ocean on these boards. Where were these oceans when I went to school? ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/11 "2005-09-05T05:48:52Z")
There’s some great information on [the National Hurricane Center FAQ page.](http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html) From that page: > [@](#): > > The terms “hurricane” and “typhoon” are regionally specific names for a strong “tropical cyclone”. A tropical cyclone is the generic term for a non-frontal synoptic scale low-pressure system over tropical or sub-tropical waters with organized convection (i.e. thunderstorm activity) and definite cyclonic surface wind circulation (Holland 1993). They also have a bunch of very specific definitions, including: “hurricane” “typhoon” “severe tropical cyclone” “severe cyclonic storm” “tropical cyclone” ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/12 "2005-09-05T07:59:49Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > About “cyclone”: The terms cyclone and anticyclone is meaningless. Weather books describe that any system has rotation, and they are deemed cyclones or anticyclones, depending on if a cold front or warm front. I will find a cite to quote, tomorrow. - Jinx “Cyclone” is technically meaningless however “tropical cyclone” is not meaningless as a cyclonic weather pattern in the tropics is something to be watched closely. If a tropical cyclone does not form winds strong enough to get classified as a category 1 storm or worse, then it remains classified as a tropical low. Once the winds get up, it is named and becomes a “tropical cyclone” (in the Indian Ocean; north, and to the north east of Australia.) The term “tropical cyclone” is then shortened to “cyclone” by the media and the general public, hence “Cyclone Tracy”, “Cyclone Zoe”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/13 "2005-09-05T18:08:50Z")
basically, they are all cyclonic disturbances ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoon-or-hurricane/320132/14 "2005-09-05T18:28:28Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Atlantic and Eastern Pacific (West Coast of Mexico): Hurricane > > Western Pacific (Asia): Typhoon (from the Chinese “Ty” (Extreme), “Phoon” (wind). The storms are also called hurricanes in the South Pacific Ocean east of 160 E longitude. “Hurricane” is derived from the Taino Indian word _hurákan_, apparently the name of an angry evil god.