Wow! …….. Moment of silence…………………….!

Moment’s up. This hypnotic image was brought you courtesy of AOML*.

Speaking of which, one of the three images below is a cyclone, one a hurricane and one a typhoon. Can you tell which is which?

I’ll give you a hint: It all depends on where they’re from, i.e. where they originated. The terms hurricane and typhoon are both tropical cyclones, a generic term.

In keeping with their wind patterns, the definitions of these three storms can be very circular, however. Just read further, folks, and I think you’ll agree how confusing this stuff can get.

For example, a typhoon is a tropical cyclone that forms in the Western Pacific or Indian Ocean; whereas, the term, hurricane, refers to a storm which occurs over the N Atlantic Ocean, the NE Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the S Pacific Ocean. The same storm occurring over the NW Pacific Ocean west of the dateline is called a typhoon; one occurring over Australia and the Indian Ocean is a tropical cyclone, but the winds rotate clockwise.

I’m not sure I care any more. They all look like they’re going clockwise, but I know which is going to hit the Gulf Coast. The big system below is Gustav currently headed for New Orleans; the small one to the left is an old pic of a typhoon headed straight for Japan (earth observatory.nasa.gov); while the disturbance on the right is a cyclone that once pummeled India and Pakistan.

OK, let’s start again: This time I’m going to paraphrase Chris Landsea of the *Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. If you are at all interested in hurricanes, it is definitely worth your time to follow the Landsea link( Land? Sea? sounds fishy to me) .

Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 39 mph are called tropical depressions. Once the tropical cyclone reaches winds of at least 39 mph it is typically referred to as a tropical storm and given a name. If winds reach 74 mph, then the storm falls into one of the following categories, depending on its Ocean of origin:

• “hurricane” (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E)
• “typhoon” (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)
• “severe tropical cyclone” (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)
• “severe cyclonic storm” (the North Indian Ocean)
• “tropical cyclone” (the Southwest Indian Ocean)

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See, everybody, that wasn’t so hard. I’ll give you another hint. The only ones that hit the U.S. are hurricanes.

Let us hope and pray that Gustav (staff of the gods) beats itself out before making landfall.

Amen,

Laura signing off