Aaah! Take cover! It’s a hurricane! Or is it a tornado? Or maybe a typhoon? How the heck do you tell the difference between
all these things?! Well, fear not, because I have it covered
for you right here. First, let’s get it straight: all these
weather phenomena have to do with strong winds. Not my-umbrella-got-torn-from-my-hands strong,
mind you, but rather my-house-got-blown-away-to-the-Land-of-Oz kind of thing. Yet before we get to the actual difference
between hurricanes and typhoons, we must understand that, in general, they’re one and the same
thing called a tropical cyclone. A tropical cyclone is a huge mass of clouds
that gather in the sky and start rotating counter clock-wise due to very low air pressure. After a while it lures in moisture from all
over the place, becoming bigger and more dangerous. This rotation may or may not become a trouble,
but its main quality that never changes is that cyclones always form over the oceans
or seas. Also, if you live in moderate or colder climates,
there’s nothing for you to worry about, even if your house is right by the seaside,
because you’ll only hear about cyclones from the news. After all, they’re called tropical for a
reason: they only form in tropical or subtropical areas, because they need warm water to get
things going. Now, if they’re all the same, why have different
names for them? The short answer is to confuse everyone. I guess you’ll need a longer one after this. So, like I said, tropical cyclones may even
not pose any serious threat to people. In fact, cyclones occur much more often than
you think! But only few of them grow large and strong
enough to become hurricanes or typhoons. The weakest version of a tropical cyclone
is called a tropical depression. It’s a similar swirling mass of clouds,
usually accompanied by storms, but the force of winds in it is not very high. The strongest gusts are 39 mph, which is a
lot, I know, but it’s rarely the case. On dry land, such weather would only require
you to close all windows and doors and stay at home. You can even watch the raging storm while
sitting on a windowsill with a cup of hot chocolate. Still, if you’re caught by a depression
in the open sea, it may and will be a problem because the force of wind is enough to overturn
a boat, and a heavy rain with lightning doesn’t help the situation. When the winds are stronger than 39 mph, the
cyclone is then called a tropical storm. This is a more serious threat, and you’ll
do well to hide inside your house because gusts of wind might reach 72 mph. Imagine a car driving at full speed on a highway
— that will be the force of wind during a severe tropical storm for you. And only if the wind gets even more powerful
than that, then it can be called a hurricane or a typhoon. And here’s where we get to the difference
between the two: in fact, there’s almost none! If a severe tropical cyclone with wind speeds
of over 75 mph occurs in the North Atlantic or North-East Pacific, it’s called a hurricane. If it’s in the North-West Pacific, then
it’s a typhoon. All the rest about them is the same, and a
hurricane can even become a typhoon, or vice versa, if it travels from one area to the
other. We hear more about hurricanes than typhoons
because the Atlantic Ocean is warmer than the Pacific, and warm water acts like a fuel
for cyclones. It evaporates from the surface and then condenses
again in the cold air, forming clouds, which clump together and start swirling around with
the wind. This way, cyclones can cover extremely large
areas and transform into real monsters under right conditions. But what about tornadoes? Are they the same as cyclones? Um, no. In fact, these two can’t be more different. First of all, tropical cyclones only form
in warm areas over the ocean; they can never occur anywhere else. Tornadoes, on the contrary, can form almost
anywhere they please, both over sea and over land. But there’s much more to it than that. You see, a tornado is a swirling funnel of
air coming down from the sky. It appears during thunderstorms, and it’s
rather a consequence than a reason for severe weather. The column of air falls down to the ground,
and wind speeds there can reach anything from 100 to the whopping 300 mph. Needless to say, anything that gets in its
way will be hurled upwards, be it a person, a car, or Dorothy’s house. But despite its terrible power, a tornado
is a very local event, and short-lived at that. The biggest one ever registered by scientists
was just over 1.5 mi in diameter and lasted about an hour or so. Compared to tropical cyclones, which can stretch
over 1,000 mi and last for days or even weeks, it’s like a grain of sand on a beach. By the way, cyclones coming to the shore can
also be accompanied by several tornadoes forming over land. So they’re something like sidekicks to the
big bad boys. Still, tornadoes and hurricanes (or typhoons,
if you prefer the northwestern Pacific) are not entirely different, after all, and they
have certain similarities too. Remember the swirling part? That’s the thing. Both hurricanes and tornadoes are powerful
masses of air rotating around the center at high speeds. And the center, in its turn, is usually calm
and windless — so calm, in fact, that it’s almost creepy. It’s called the eye of the tornado or the
hurricane, and it’s basically the safest place to be when the phenomenon comes to you. Well, apart from being thousands of miles
away from it, of course. Unfortunately, you’ll have to be really
lucky to get into the eye and wait until the weather calms down. The eyewall has the strongest winds, and if
you get too close to it, you’ll probably be thrown around like a toy. Also, if you’re at sea, then the eye is
not safe at all. The winds all around the eye make huge waves
crisscrossing the area inside, and your ship or boat will have a really hard time staying
afloat. Not to mention that only the eye of a hurricane
is safe on land; tornadoes are much smaller in diameter, and you can easily get in a lot
of trouble if you’re caught into the eye of one by some wild chance. Have you ever seen the eye of a hurricane,
by the way? Share your experience down in the comments! If you’ve been wondering how exactly powerful
a hurricane could be, then you should know there are 5 categories of hurricanes according
to the National Weather Service. Category 1 is just slightly more intense than
a tropical storm, and in some countries it’s still considered as such. The wind speeds can reach 94 mph, which is
a lot of force to deal with, but it’s not as if you would not be safe behind concrete
walls of an apartment building. Category 2 is another story altogether. The wind blows at speeds of up to 109 mph,
and that’s where the real trouble starts. The gusts are so strong they can fell trees
and billboards in the streets, so it becomes really dangerous outside. Luckily, you’re still okay if you’re inside
a sturdy building and away from the windows. When a hurricane grows to Category 3, it’s
already a disaster. First of all, it’s big. Secondly, it’s powerful. The winds are reaching 129 mph, and catching
such a gust is like being hit with a race car. That’s why this kind of a hurricane is called
a major one. Not to mention that the rain and lightning
add to the atmosphere of a cataclysm. It’s best to hide in a cellar or some other
reinforced place and wait until the worst is over. A Category 4 major hurricane is something
you don’t want to see with your own eyes. With gusts of wind up to 157 mph, it can tear
trees from the ground and hurl fairly large objects in the air, causing lots of damage. The most recent Category 4 hurricane occurred
in August-September of 2018, and it was named Florence. It traveled from off the western coast of
Africa, where it began as a tropical depression, and grew in size and force until it became
one of the most powerful hurricanes of the recent years. And finally, a Category 5 major hurricane
is a thing to be avoided at all costs. In other classifications it’s even called
a super typhoon or a super cyclonic storm, which says a lot. The most chilling thing about it is, of course,
the strength of wind, and the most powerful super cyclone in the recorded history was
hurricane Allen that struck the Caribbean in July-August of 1980. The speed of wind was the incredible 190 mph! It’s like a bullet train made of air and
blowing continuously over a huge area! Well now, what’s that thing with the names? In fact, they’re not only given to hurricanes,
but to all tropical cyclones that reach wind speeds of over 40 mph. And it’s not done for fun either: cyclones
usually appear at specific seasons, and there can be more than one of them at once, moving
in different directions. So weather services around the world give
them names not to confuse them with each other. One other thing: some time ago, they only
named hurricanes after women. Anyway, a few years ago, equal opportunity
came to the weather service, and now tropical storms are named after both genders. Hey, if you learned something new today, then
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