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 Emily near peak intensity on July 16, 2005. This image was captured by MODIS on the Terra satellite.

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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): Moderate Tropical Storm Hidaya

Australian region (2023–24): No active systems

South Pacific (2023–24): No active systems

South Atlantic (2023–24): No active systems

Last updated: 02:33, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

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Tropical cyclone anniversaries

May 4

1982 - A tropical cyclone struck southern Burma, where it killed five people.
2009 - Typhoon Kujira (pictured) reaches peak strength as a Category 4 typhoon, after killing 28 people and causing P1.25 million (US$27 million) in damage in the Philippines.

May 5, 1974 - Typhoon Carla (pictured) reached its peak intensity with 150 km/h (90 mph) winds to the east of Iwo Jima. Carla had previously caused heavy damage to crops in the Northern Mariana Islands.

May 6, 1957 - Typhoon Trix (track pictured) reached its peak intensity with a central pressure of 950 hPa (mbar) to the east of the Philippines.

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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 1Chart with concurrent information for Hurricane Arlene and Tropical Storm Bret logged and plotted (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 2Broken 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 3Tropical 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 4Cyclone on Mars, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (from Cyclone)
Image 5
North Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 6Hurricane response involves working in hazardous conditions, including contamination and electrocution hazards from floodwater.
Image 7All 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 8Surface weather map of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane moving up the west coast of Florida (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 9A 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 10
Atlantic hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 11The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 12Radar image of Hurricane Erika making landfall over Northeastern Mexico (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 13
South-West Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 14Aerial image of destroyed houses in Tacloban, following Typhoon Haiyan (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 15Subtropical Storm Alex in the north Atlantic Ocean in January 2016 (from Cyclone)
Image 16The 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 17The 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 18Percentages of hurricane deaths in the United States from 1970 to 1999. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 19
Pacific typhoon
(from Cyclone)
Image 20Hurricane Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 (from Cyclone)
Image 21Hurricane Isabel (2003)'s effect on the North Carolina Outer Banks (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 22An example of a chart for Matthew showing its five-day forecast track (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 23Comparison between extratropical and tropical cyclones on surface analysis (from Cyclone)
Image 24
Australian region cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 25Personnel and equipment from the National Guard of the United States en route to Hurricane Florence response efforts in 2018
Image 26
Pacific hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 27
South Pacific cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 28An extratropical cyclone near Iceland (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 302017 Atlantic hurricane season summary map (from Cyclone)
Image 31The 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 32Flooding 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 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 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record in terms of number of named storms. Additionally, it was as an above-average season for tropical cyclones for the fifth consecutive year. The season officially began on June 1, 2020, and ended on November 30, 2020. These dates, adopted by convention, historically delimit the period each year when most Atlantic tropical systems form. However, storm formation is possible at any time of the year, as was the case this season, when its first two named storms, Tropical Storm Arthur and Tropical Storm Bertha, formed on May 16 and May 27, respectively. The final storm, Hurricane Iota, dissipated on November 18.

Altogether, the season produced 31 tropical or subtropical cyclones, all but one of which became a named storm. Of the 30 named storms, 14 became hurricanes, and seven further intensified into major hurricanes. It was the second and final season to use the Greek letter storm naming system, the first being 2005. Hurricane Laura produced catastrophic storm surge levels, heavy rainfall, and spawned over a dozen tornadoes after striking Louisiana on August 27 with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). The storm was responsible for 81 deaths and it caused over US$19 billion in damage across the Greater Antilles and the Southern United States. Causing significant late-season loss of life and widespread destruction were November hurricanes Eta and Iota, which made landfall in Central America as Category 4 storms just two weeks apart. The storms left a toll of 184 deaths and 110 missing across the region, and thousands of families lost their homes and livelihoods. In March 2021, the names Laura, Eta and Iota were retired from reuse in the North Atlantic by the World Meteorological Organization due to the extraordinary amount of damage and number of fatalities they caused. (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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