Hurricane or Typhoon: A Look at the Difference

Depending on where you live in the world, you have likely heard of either a hurricane or a typhoon, but are they the same? Are they different? Here is a quick explanation.

In general, both hurricanes and typhoons are tropical cyclones. This means that it is an air mass that spirals around a low pressure center over an ocean. The basic difference is that hurricanes occur in the Atlantic and east Pacific Ocean, while typhoons occur in the west Pacific Ocean. The longitude difference between these sections of oceans is what makes the storms different.

Typhoons are typically stronger than hurricanes. The warm water of the west Pacific Ocean creates better conditions for a tropical storm to develop. Because of this, typhoons occur more frequently, with the annual average of 25-30. This is considerably higher compared to the 10-15 annual average of hurricanes. Wind intensity is often higher in a typhoon, though they cause less damage than a hurricane mostly due to location.

Some sources suggest that typhoons only rotate counterclockwise while hurricanes rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise.

Hurricanes predominantly develop in the Caribbean Sea, while typhoons commonly occur in South East Asia.

Hurricanes of the Caribbean Sea are assigned names of people, examples from 2007 would be Andrea, Barry, and Dean. Some typhoons of the Western North Pacific and the South East China area are named Damrey, Langwang, and Kirogi. Typhoons the occur in the China and Japan regions are named after living things and objects, such as rivers or flowers.

Source: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Hurricane_vs_Typhoon


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