Revision C

2022-01-31

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – C - Cyclone & hurricane & tornado

แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น 

ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค

 

Dictionary.com:

ออกเสียง cyclone = “SAHY-klohn”

ออกเสียง hurricane = “HUR-i-keyn” British = “-KUHN

ออกเสียง tornado = “tawr-NEY-doh”

 

Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions:

cyclone & hurricane & tornado

Each of these terms applies to a disturbance of intense severity.

Technically,

acyclone is a large-scale wind and pressure system 

characterized by circular wind motion 

with low pressure at its center.

In the Southern Hemisphere

motion of the wind in thecyclone is clockwise

 

Ahurricane is a violent tropical storm 

occurring mainlyin the western North Atlantic

with wind speeds in excess of 70 miles an hour.

 

The termhurricane is applied loosely to any storm 

accompanied by high winds.

Atornado is a violently destructive 

and usually localized wind storm occurring over land

The most visible part of a tornado is its long funnel-shaped cloud, 

filled with debris, that extends toward the ground.

 

Dictionary.com:

CYCLONE VS. HURRICANE VS. TYPHOON

 

What’s the difference between a cyclone,hurricane, and a typhoon?

Cyclonehurricane, and typhoon are all terms for big storms.

Although the word cyclone is often used to refer to a big storm

it is, technically speaking

a large-scale,I atmospheric wind-and-pressure system 

characterized by low pressure at its center 

and by circular wind motion

 

Because these generally produce clouds and precipitation

cyclones are often simply referred to as storms. 

When such storms form around the tropics

they are called tropical cyclones

 

Tropical cyclones are classified based on their strength

They may start as tropical depressions and progress to tropical storms

The most severe tropical cyclones

—those with winds of 74 mph (119 k/mh) or more

—are called hurricanes or typhoons.

Which term is used depends on where the storm occurs.

Generally, 

storms that form over the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico 

are called hurricanes,

while those that form over the Pacific Ocean 

are called typhoons.

(The word hurricane is sometimes used for storms 

that form over the eastern or central North Pacific Ocean.)

Cyclones 

rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere 

and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

cyclone vs. tornado

In casual use

the word cyclone is sometimes used to refer to a tornado 

(but it is not used this way in scientific contexts).

 

Here’s an example 

of cyclonehurricane, and typhoon used correctly in a sentence.

 

Example

There have been many devastating cyclones this season, including a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and multiple typhoons in the Pacific.

 

Dictionary.com:

Cyclone vs. Typhoon vs. Hurricane vs. Tornado: 

Are They All The Same?

Published September 18, 2021

Cyclonehurricane, and typhoon are all terms for big storms

Are they all the same thing? What’s the difference?

 

Join us on this whirlwind tour as we answer these questions and more: 

  • What’s the difference between a cyclone, a hurricane, and a typhoon?
  • What’s the difference between a tropical cyclone, a tropical depression, and a tropical storm?
  • Why are some tropical cyclones called hurricanes and others called typhoons?
  • What’s the difference between a hurricane and a tornado?

⚡ Quick summary

The word cyclone is a general term for a large storm system, 

the most severe kind of which is called a tropical cyclone

 

The words hurricane and typhoon are simply different names 

for tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones that originate in the West 

(mostly over the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico) 

are called hurricanes

Tropical cyclones that originate in the East 

(mostly over the western Pacific and northern Indian Ocean) 

are called typhoons.

 

tornado is different altogether

—it’s a funnel cloud that forms from a storm over land 

(sometimes as part of a hurricane). 

Tornadoes are much smaller in scale than hurricanes.

 

What is a cyclone?

cyclone is, technically speaking, 

“a large-scale, atmospheric wind-and-pressure system 

characterized by low pressure at its center and by circular wind motion.”

 

Because these systems generally produce clouds and precipitation, 

the word cyclone is often used generally to refer to a big storm.

 

The word cyclone comes from the Greek kyklôn

meaning “revolving.”

 

Tropical cyclone vs. tropical depression vs. tropical storm 

When cyclones form around the region known as the tropics

they are called tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones are classified based on their strength, 

largely based on the speed of the winds they produce. 

They may start as tropical depressions

If they become more severe, they are called tropical storms.

 

What’s the difference betweenhurricane and a typhoon?

The most severe tropical cyclones

—those with winds of 64 knots (74 mph or 119 km/h) or more

—are called hurricanes or typhoons

Which term is used depends on where the storm occurs.

 

The name hurricane is used for tropical cyclones of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the central northern and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The name typhoon is used for tropical cyclones of the western and northwestern Pacific Ocean and the northern Indian Ocean.

 

In other places, the generic term tropical cyclone is used.

 

Despite the naming differences

they’re all the same thing in terms of 

how they’re formed and how they behave and function.

 

Hurricanes and typhoons are also further 

separated into different levels of intensity.

 

The biggest hurricanes with the strongest winds

—the ones you’re most likely to hear about 

when they’re forecasted to make landfall

—are classified as major hurricanes 

(these include those labeled as Category 34, and 5 hurricanes). 

 

Typhoons with the highest wind speeds are classified as super typhoons.

Regardless of their severity or what they’re called, 

cyclones rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

The word hurricane comes to English via the Spanish huracán 

and the Portuguese furacão, from the Taíno huracán and furacán

—all words for ferocious storms. 

The word typhoon is an alteration of earlier words 

such as the Arabic ṭūfān, meaning “hurricane” or “deluge,”

and the Chinese taaî fung, meaning “great wind.” 

It may ultimately come from the Greek tȳphôn, meaning “violent wind.”

 

Hurricane vs. tornado

Like hurricanestornadoes involve the rotating movement of air

But a hurricane isn’t just a really big tornado

 

Simply speaking, a hurricane is a storm

—or, more precisely, a storm system that’s often made up of multiple thunderstorms

tornado, on the other hand, could be described as 

a single element of a single storm.

 

In technical terms,

tornado is “a system of atmospheric circulation

characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris.” 

(In other words, 

the spinning air funnel we know as a tornado is invisible 

until it starts gathering up water vapor, dirt, and other debris.)

 

Unlike hurricanestornadoes are exclusive to land. 

Hurricanes are essentially massive, spinning formations of multiple thunderstorms, 

while tornadoes are formed from a wind vortex from the hot, 

high-pressure wind of a single thunderstorm over land. 

 

Tornadoes can form from the thunderstorms that make up a hurricane

but they more commonly form from single thunderstorms.

 

Hurricanes are much, much bigger than tornadoes

The largest tornadoes are about 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, 

and average ones are often much smaller. 

 

In contrast, the average hurricane is about 300 miles (482 km) in diameter.

To be considered a hurricane,

a storm system must have wind speeds of at least 64 knots (74 mph or 119 km/h). 

Tornadoes produce wind speeds of at least 34 knots (40 mph). 

Hurricanes and tornadoes are both known for 

how dangerous and destructive they can be. 

Tornadoes can destroy everything in their path, 

but they’re relatively small and short-lived. 

 

Hurricanes are capable of even more widespread destruction 

due to their size and their ability to move across entire regions 

and last for several days, 

causing destruction with both high winds and massive amounts of rainfall.

 

Cyclone vs. tornado

In casual use, 

the word cyclone is sometimes used to refer to a tornado

but it is not used this way in scientific contexts.

 

Cyclones vs. hurricanes vs. typhoons vs. tornadoes

To recap: 

  • Cyclones are massive, rotating storm systems.
  • Those that form in the tropics are called tropical cyclones.
  • Less severe tropical cyclones are called tropical depressions.
  • More severe tropical cyclones are called tropical storms.
  • The most severe tropical cyclones are called either hurricanes or typhoons depending on where they occur.
  • Tornadoes are rotating funnel clouds that only form over land, and they’re much, much smaller than hurricanes.

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Words at Play

The Difference Between…

cyclone & hurricane & tornado

The terms typhoonhurricane, and cyclone 

all describe a similar type of tropical storm 

with strong, rotational winds moving around a center of low atmospheric pressure. 

In general parlance, the distinction among them lies in their location. 

All of them technically are considered cyclones. 

But hurricane is typically applied to rotating storms 

in the Atlantic and Northern Pacific oceans, 

while typhoon is applied to such storms 

when they occur in the region of the Philippines or the South China Sea.

 

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary:

cyclone

Did You Know? 

Technically, cyclone is nothing more than 

a region of low pressure around which air flows

In the Northern Hemisphere, 

the air moves counterclockwise around the low-pressure center, 

while in the Southern Hemisphere, the air travels clockwise

 

Meteorologists also refer to tropical cyclones, 

which develop over warm water and can be huge, severe storms. 

Strong tropical cyclones are better known as hurricanes or typhoons

depending on where in the world they occur. 

Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, 

while typhoons occur in the Pacific Ocean. 

 

Such storms can be extremely devastating: 

two cyclones hit a coastal section of India within a few days of each other 

in 1999, killing an estimated 10,000 people. 

Because the word cyclone broadly defines a kind of air flow, 

cyclones are not confined to our planet. 

In 1999, the Hubble Space Telescope photographed 

a huge cyclone on Mars.