Portal:Tropical cyclones

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The Tropical Cyclones Portal

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A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center, a closed low-level circulation and a spiral arrangement of numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rainfall. Tropical cyclones feed on the heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as Nor'easters, European windstorms and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems. Most tropical cyclones originate in the doldrums, approximately ten degrees from the Equator.

The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, as well as to their formation in maritime tropical air masses. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic nature, with anticlockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on its location and intensity, a tropical cyclone may be referred to by names such as "hurricane", "typhoon", "tropical storm", "cyclonic storm", "tropical depression" or simply "cyclone".

Types of cyclone: 1. A "Typhoon" is a tropical cyclone located in the North-west Pacific Ocean which has the most cyclonic activity and storms occur year-round. 2. A "Hurricane" is also a tropical cyclone located at the North Atlantic Ocean or North-east Pacific Ocean which have an average storm activity and storms typically form between May 15 and November 30. 3. A "Cyclone" is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

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Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974

Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small, developing, easterly storm was originally expected to pass clear of the city, but it would turn towards it early on 24 December. After 10:00 p.m. ACST, damage became severe, with wind gusts reaching 217 km/h (117 kn; 135 mph) before instruments failed. The anemometer in Darwin Airport control tower had its needle bent in half by the strength of the gusts.

Residents of Darwin were celebrating Christmas, and they did not immediately acknowledge the emergency, partly because they had been alerted to an earlier cyclone (Selma) which passed west of the city, not affecting it in any way. Additionally, news outlets had only a skeleton crew on duty over the holiday. (Full article...)

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Satellite image of Dean west of the Windward Islands on August 17

The effects of Hurricane Dean in the Lesser Antilles were spread over five island countries and included 3 fatalities. Hurricane Dean formed in the Atlantic Ocean west of Cape Verde on August 14, 2007. The National Hurricane Center's first Forecast Advisory on the system anticipated that the Cape Verde-type hurricane would pass into the Caribbean through the Lesser Antilles. The storm moved persistently towards the small island chain, strengthening until it passed through the islands three days later on August 17 as a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It went on to brush the island of Jamaica and reached Category 5 strength before making landfall on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

While crossing the Lesser Antilles, Dean caused moderate damage in St. Lucia, Martinique, and Dominica, where it washed out roads, damaged houses, and killed 6 people. It also devastated the agriculture-dependent economies of those three states, as well as that of Guadeloupe, destroying between 80% and 100% of the banana crops. Deaths were reported as far away as Trinidad. (Full article...)

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Hurricane Floyd was a destructive hurricane that hit North Carolina and New Jersey during the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. The image above was taken of Floyd near its peak intensity, and because the image is so striking, it has often been attributed to other, more recent destructive storms such as Hurricane Jeanne and Hurricane Katrina.

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The 2019 Pacific hurricane season was an above average season which produced nineteen named storms, most of which were rather weak and short-lived. Only seven hurricanes formed, the fewest since 2010. The season officially began on May 15 in the East Pacific Ocean, and on June 1 in the Central Pacific; they both ended on November 30. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Pacific basin. This season was one of the latest-starting Pacific hurricane seasons on record (reliable records began in 1971), with the first tropical cyclone, Hurricane Alvin, forming on June 25. The final system, Tropical Depression Twenty-One-E, dissipated on November 18.

The season had a rather slow start, with no cyclones forming in the basin before the month of June for the first time since 2011. The strongest hurricane of the season, Barbara, formed on June 30 and peaked as a high-end Category 4 hurricane on July 3. August was extremely quiet with no hurricanes forming during the month, a first for a season since 1973. September was much more active with six systems developing, of which three became hurricanes. Activity decreased appreciably in October and November as most of the storms remained weak and short-lived. (Full article...)

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Currently active tropical cyclones

Italicized basins are unofficial.

North Atlantic (2024): No active systems

East and Central Pacific (2024): No active systems

West Pacific (2024): No active systems

North Indian Ocean (2024): No active systems

Mediterranean (2023–24): No active systems

South-West Indian Ocean (2023–24): No active systems

Australian region (2023–24): No active systems

South Pacific (2023–24): No active systems

South Atlantic (2023–24): No active systems

Last updated: 21:50, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

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Tropical cyclone anniversaries

June 6

1994 - Tropical Storm Russ moved across Hainan Island and southern China, killing 72 people and leaving US$727.5&bsp;million in damage.
1999 - Typhoon Maggie made landfall in China, and along its path the storm killed nine people.
2012 - Tropical Storm Kuena (pictured) became a rare June tropical storm in the South-West Indian Ocean.

June 7,

1973 - Hurricane Ava reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane, becoming the only Pacific hurricane to attain that intensity in the month of June.
2003 - Cyclone Gina (pictured) reaches its peak intensity as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone after affecting the Solomon Islands with only minimal damages.

June 8

1960 - Typhoon Mary struck Hong Kong, killing 1,649 people across southeastern China.
1966 - Hurricane Alma made landfall in western Cuba causing severe flooding. The storm killed a total of 90 people and caused over $200 million of damage.

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Did you know…

…that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center considers that Typhoon Vera (pictured) of 1986 is actually two distinct systems, formed from two separated low-level circulations?
…that Hurricane Agatha (pictured) was the strongest Pacific hurricane to make landfall in Mexico in May since records began in 1949?
…that Cyclone Raquel (track pictured) travelled between the Australian and South Pacific basins between the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, spanning both seasons in both basins?
…that Cyclone Amphan (pictured) in 2020 was the first storm to be classified as a Super Cyclonic Storm in the Bay of Bengal since 1999?

Did you know archive

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The following are images from various tropical cyclone-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Surface weather map of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane moving up the west coast of Florida (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 2Radar image of Hurricane Erika making landfall over Northeastern Mexico (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 3An extratropical cyclone near Iceland (from Cyclone)
Image 4Hurricane response involves working in hazardous conditions, including contamination and electrocution hazards from floodwater.
Image 52017 Atlantic hurricane season summary map (from Cyclone)
Image 6Hurricane Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 (from Cyclone)
Image 7Chart with concurrent information for Hurricane Arlene and Tropical Storm Bret logged and plotted (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 8A fictitious synoptic chart of an extratropical cyclone affecting the UK and Ireland. The blue arrows between isobars indicate the direction of the wind, while the "L" symbol denotes the centre of the "low". Note the occluded, cold and warm frontal boundaries. (from Cyclone)
Image 9Aerial image of destroyed houses in Tacloban, following Typhoon Haiyan (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 10Comparison between extratropical and tropical cyclones on surface analysis (from Cyclone)
Image 11
Atlantic hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 12Hurricane Isabel (2003)'s effect on the North Carolina Outer Banks (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 13
North Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 14
Pacific typhoon
(from Cyclone)
Image 15
Pacific hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 16
South-West Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 17The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 18Tropical cyclones form when the energy released by the condensation of moisture in rising air causes a positive feedback loop over warm ocean waters. (from Cyclone)
Image 19The initial extratropical low-pressure area forms at the location of the red dot on the image. It is usually perpendicular (at a right angle to) the leaf-like cloud formation seen on satellite during the early stage of cyclogenesis. The location of the axis of the upper level jet stream is in light blue. (from Cyclone)
Image 20An example of a chart for Matthew showing its five-day forecast track (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 21Flooding in Port Arthur, Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey. Harvey was the wettest and second-costliest tropical cyclone in United States history. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 22Cyclone on Mars, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (from Cyclone)
Image 23All but the most expensive bottles of water were sold out at this Publix supermarket before Hurricane Irma; in the week preceding the storm, water sold out soon after shipments arrived (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 24
South Pacific cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 25The number of $1 billion Atlantic hurricanes almost doubled from the 1980s to the 2010s, and inflation-adjusted costs have increased more than elevenfold. The increases have been attributed to climate change and to greater numbers of people moving to coastal areas. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 26Broken concrete utility pole in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017, which ranks fourth in costliest US tropical cyclones. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 27Percentages of hurricane deaths in the United States from 1970 to 1999. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 28Subtropical Storm Alex in the north Atlantic Ocean in January 2016 (from Cyclone)
Image 29The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. Katrina was the costliest tropical cyclone in United States history. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 30Personnel and equipment from the National Guard of the United States en route to Hurricane Florence response efforts in 2018
Image 31
Australian region cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 32The dangerous semicircle is the upper-right corner, with the arrow marking the direction of motion of a Northern Hemisphere storm. Note that typhoons, etc. are asymmetrical, and semicircle is a convenient misnomer. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 33A polar low over the Sea of Japan in December 2009 (from Cyclone)

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This is a featured list, which represents some of the best list articles on English Wikipedia.

The 2005 Pacific hurricane season was the least active season since the 2001 season, producing 16 tropical depressions; 15 of which became tropical storms or hurricanes. The season officially started on May 15, 2005 in the eastern Pacific, designated as the area east of 140°W, and on June 1, 2005 in the central Pacific, which is between the International Date Line and 140°W, and lasted until November 30, 2005. These dates typically limit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the eastern Pacific basin. This timeline documents all the storm formations, strengthening, weakening, landfalls, extratropical transitions, as well as dissipation. The timeline also includes information which was not operationally released, meaning that information from post-storm reviews by the National Hurricane Center, such as information on a storm that was not operationally warned on, has been included.

The first storm of the season, Hurricane Adrian, formed off the southwest coast of El Salvador and made the closest approach of any hurricane to the country on record. Most of June was quiet until the end of the month, when two tropical storms developed. July remained inactive as well, as only two tropical storms formed. In August, the activity picked up somewhat; the Central Pacific had its first and only depression of the year and four tropical storms, two of which became hurricanes, forming in the Eastern Pacific. September was the most active month of the year; six tropical storms formed, four of which became hurricanes, and two of the hurricanes strengthened further to become the only major hurricanes of the year. The strongest storm of the season was Hurricane Kenneth, whose remnants briefly threatened Hawaii near the end of the month. Activity sharply dropped off in October as only one tropical depression formed. No storms formed in November in both basins, and the season ended on November 30. (Full article...)

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Related WikiProjects

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is the central point of coordination for Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones. Feel free to help!

WikiProject Weather is the main center point of coordination for Wikipedia's coverage of meteorology in general, and the parent project of WikiProject Tropical cyclones. Three other branches of WikiProject Weather in particular share significant overlaps with WikiProject Tropical cyclones:

The Non-tropical storms task force coordinates most of Wikipedia's coverage on extratropical cyclones, which tropical cyclones often transition into near the end of their lifespan.
The Floods task force takes on the scope of flooding events all over the world, with rainfall from tropical cyclones a significant factor in many of them.
WikiProject Severe weather documents the effects of extreme weather such as tornadoes, which landfalling tropical cyclones can produce.

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