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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Hurricane Irene approaching peak intensity on August 15

Hurricane Irene was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm formed near Cape Verde on August 4 and crossed the Atlantic, turning northward around Bermuda before being absorbed by an extratropical cyclone while situated southeast of Newfoundland. Irene proved to be a difficult storm to forecast due to oscillations in strength. After almost dissipating on August 10, Irene peaked as a Category 2 hurricane on August 16. Irene persisted for 14 days as a tropical system, the longest duration of any storm of the 2005 season. It was the ninth named storm and fourth hurricane of the record-breaking season.

Although there were initial fears of a landfall in the United States due to uncertainty in predicting the storm's track, Hurricane Irene never approached land and caused no recorded damage; however, swells up to 8 ft (2.4 m) and strong rip currents resulted in one fatality in Long Beach, New York. (Full article...)

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Hurricane Georges just offshore northern Cuba on September 24

The effects of Hurricane Georges in Cuba included $305.8 million in damages and six deaths. Forming out of a tropical wave over the Atlantic Ocean, Georges attained a peak intensity of 155 mph (249 km/h) on September 20, 1998. On September 23, the storm made landfall in southeastern Cuba as a minimal Category 1 hurricane. The storm tracked over the county for the following two days before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico on September 25 and later making landfall in the United States as a Category 2 hurricane. Before the storm's landfall in Cuba, officials reported that 200,000 people were evacuated to shelters; however, later reports indicated that upwards 711,000 people evacuated. A state of emergency was declared for much of eastern Cuba and most of the country was placed under a tropical storm or hurricane warning during the storm's passage.

More than 3,000 homes were destroyed and 60,000 damaged throughout the country, leaving an estimated 100,000 people homeless. Agricultural losses were severe, with the plantain crop loss estimated at 70% of annual production due to Georges, accounting for roughly $15 million of the total damages. Following the passage of the hurricane, several countries provided relief funds to Cuba for disaster recovery. Despite crop losses, affected residents were given essential supplies by the local government. By December, an estimated $90 million in funds was allocated for the impacts of Georges and the drought that preceded it. (Full article...)

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Hurricane Mitch near peak intensity. When this photo was taken, Mitch was in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Central America.

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The 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season had no bounds, but tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean tend to form between April and December, with peaks in May and November. The 1970 season saw a total of seven cyclonic storms, of which three developed into severe cyclonic storms. The Bay of Bengal was more active than the Arabian Sea during 1970, with all of the three severe cyclonic storms in the season forming there. Unusually, none of the storms in the Arabian Sea made landfall this year. The most significant storm of the season was the Bhola cyclone, which formed in the Bay of Bengal and hit Bangladesh on November 12. The storm killed at least 500,000, making it the deadliest tropical cyclone in recorded history. The season was also the deadliest tropical cyclone season globally, with 500,805 fatalities, mostly due to the aforementioned Bhola cyclone.

(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: 21:54, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

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Tropical cyclone anniversaries

May 18

1986 - Cyclone Namu moved through the Solomon Islands, killing at least 111 people.
1997 - A powerful cyclone made landfall over in Bangladesh as a powerful Category 4 cyclone, killing more than 1,150 people.
2020 - Cyclone Amphan (pictured) reached peak intensity as a Category 5 super cyclonic storm, and two days later moved ashore near the border of India and Bangladesh. With an estimated US$13.7 billion in damages, Amphan was the costliest North Indian Ocean tropical cyclone on record.

May 19

1997 - A powerful cyclone (pictured) struck Bangladesh, killing 1,146 people.
2004 - A cyclone made landfall in Burma, causing floods and resulting in 236 fatalities.
2018 - Cyclone Sagar moved ashore Somaliland, with its associated floods killing 79 people across the region.

May 20

1989 - Typhoon Brenda makes landfall over Southern China as a Category 1 typhoon, killing about 84 people.
1999 - A powerful cyclone (pictured) struck southeastern Pakistan, killing at least 400 people, and perhaps as many as 6,000.
2005 - Tropical Depression Adrian became the first Pacific tropical cyclone to strike the Pacific coast of Honduras.

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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 1A 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 22017 Atlantic hurricane season summary map (from Cyclone)
Image 3Subtropical Storm Alex in the north Atlantic Ocean in January 2016 (from Cyclone)
Image 4
South Pacific cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 5Personnel and equipment from the National Guard of the United States en route to Hurricane Florence response efforts in 2018
Image 6
North Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 7
Pacific typhoon
(from Cyclone)
Image 8An example of a chart for Matthew showing its five-day forecast track (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 9The 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 10
South-West Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 11Tropical 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 12Percentages of hurricane deaths in the United States from 1970 to 1999. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 13The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. Katrina was the costliest tropical cyclone in United States history. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 14An extratropical cyclone near Iceland (from Cyclone)
Image 15Hurricane Isabel (2003)'s effect on the North Carolina Outer Banks (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 16Flooding 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 17Aerial image of destroyed houses in Tacloban, following Typhoon Haiyan (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 18
Australian region cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 19All 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 20The 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 21The 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 22Comparison between extratropical and tropical cyclones on surface analysis (from Cyclone)
Image 23
Pacific hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 24Hurricane response involves working in hazardous conditions, including contamination and electrocution hazards from floodwater.
Image 25A polar low over the Sea of Japan in December 2009 (from Cyclone)
Image 26Hurricane Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 (from Cyclone)
Image 27Surface weather map of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane moving up the west coast of Florida (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 28
Atlantic hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 29The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 30Radar image of Hurricane Erika making landfall over Northeastern Mexico (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 31Cyclone on Mars, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (from Cyclone)
Image 32Broken 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 33Chart with concurrent information for Hurricane Arlene and Tropical Storm Bret logged and plotted (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)

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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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