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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Harvey near peak intensity prior to landfall in southern Texas on August 25

Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting $125 billion (2017 USD) in damage, primarily from catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding in the Houston metropolitan area and Southeast Texas; this made the storm the costliest natural disaster recorded in Texas at the time. It was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at the intensity of a major hurricane throughout the country. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing unprecedented flooding. With peak accumulations of 60.58 in (1,539 mm), in Nederland, Texas, Harvey was the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, which displaced more than 30,000 people and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.

The eighth named storm, third hurricane, and first major hurricane of the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Harvey developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Lesser Antilles, reaching tropical storm status on August 17. The storm crossed through the Windward Islands on the following day, making landfall on the southern end of Barbados and a second landfall on Saint Vincent. Upon entering the Caribbean, Harvey began to weaken due to moderate wind shear, and degenerated into a tropical wave north of Colombia, late on August 19. The remnants were monitored for regeneration as it continued west-northwestward across the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, before redeveloping over the Bay of Campeche on August 23. Harvey then began to rapidly intensify on August 24, regaining tropical storm status and becoming a hurricane later that day. (Full article...)

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Track of Hurricane Ivan, according to the Saffir-Simpson scale

The meteorological history of Hurricane Ivan, the longest tracked tropical cyclone of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season, lasted from late August through late September. The hurricane developed from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 31. Tracking westward due to a ridge, favorable conditions allowed it to develop into Tropical Depression Nine on September 2 in the deep tropical Atlantic Ocean. The cyclone gradually intensified until September 5, when it underwent rapid deepening and reached Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale; at the time Ivan was the southernmost major North Atlantic hurricane on record.

Ivan quickly weakened due to dry air, but it gradually reorganized, passing just south of Grenada as a major hurricane on September 7. The hurricane attained Category 5 status in the central Caribbean Sea. Over the subsequent days its intensity fluctuated largely due to eyewall replacement cycles, and Ivan passed just south of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and western Cuba with winds at or slightly below Category 5 status. Turning northward and encountering unfavorable conditions, Ivan gradually weakened before making landfall just west of Gulf Shores, Alabama on September 16 with winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). The cyclone quickly weakened to tropical depression status as it turned to the northeast, and Ivan transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on September 18. (Full article...)

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Hurricane Catarina near peak intensity on March 26, 2004. This image was taken from the International Space Station.

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The 1994 Pacific hurricane season was the final season of the eastern north Pacific's consecutive active hurricane seasons that started in 1982. The season officially started on May 15, 1994, in the eastern Pacific, and on June 1, 1994, in the central Pacific, and lasted until November 30, 1994. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The first tropical cyclone formed on June 18, while the last system dissipated on October 26. This season, twenty-two tropical cyclones formed in the north Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, with all but two becoming tropical storms or hurricanes. A total of 10 hurricanes occurred, including five major hurricanes. The above average activity in 1994 was attributed to the formation of the 1994–95 El Niño.

Of note in this season is an unusual spree of very intense storms; the season was the first on record to see three Category 5 hurricanes, later tied in 2002 and 2018. Hurricanes Emilia, Gilma, John, and Olivia all reached a pressure below 930 millibars. Hurricane John was the farthest-traveling tropical cyclone on record at 13,180 km (8,190 mi). Elsewhere, Hurricane Rosa caused four casualties in Mexico as the basin's only landfalling tropical storm or hurricane, and later was responsible for flooding in Texas. (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 (2024–25): No active systems

South-West Indian Ocean (2024–25): No active systems

Australian region (2024–25): No active systems

South Pacific (2024–25): No active systems

South Atlantic (2024–25): No active systems

Last updated: 18:07, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

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Tropical cyclone anniversaries

July 9,

1995 - Tropical Storm Barry made landfall on Hart Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Barry brought only minor effects to the province.
2015 - Typhoon Chan-hom (pictured) reached its peak intensity with 1-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph), just a day before it made landfall over in Zhejiang which caused about CN¥5.86 billion (US$944 million) in damages.

July 10,

2001 - Tropical Storm Trami makes landfall over Taiwan as a tropical storm.
2006 - Typhoon Ewiniar (pictured) made landfall in South Korea as a severe tropical storm, passing very close to Seoul. Ewiniar killed least 40 people in various countries.

July 11,

1967 - Typhoon Clara made landfall in Taiwan, bringing record rainfall to the island. 69 people died.
1987 - Typhoon Thelma (pictured) attains peak strength with 1-minute sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph) and a minimum pressure of 915 hPa while nearing Luzon, 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?

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

Image 1
South-West Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 2Chart with concurrent information for Hurricane Arlene and Tropical Storm Bret logged and plotted (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 3All 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 4Cyclone on Mars, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (from Cyclone)
Image 5
South Pacific cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 6A 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 7The 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 8Radar image of Hurricane Erika making landfall over Northeastern Mexico (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 9
Australian region cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 10Broken 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 11A polar low over the Sea of Japan in December 2009 (from Cyclone)
Image 12The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. Katrina was the costliest tropical cyclone in United States history. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 13
Pacific typhoon
(from Cyclone)
Image 14Percentages of hurricane deaths in the United States from 1970 to 1999. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 15Aerial image of destroyed houses in Tacloban, following Typhoon Haiyan (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 16Subtropical Storm Alex in the north Atlantic Ocean in January 2016 (from Cyclone)
Image 17
Pacific hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 18Comparison between extratropical and tropical cyclones on surface analysis (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 20The 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 21An extratropical cyclone near Iceland (from Cyclone)
Image 22Hurricane Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 (from Cyclone)
Image 23The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 24Hurricane Isabel (2003)'s effect on the North Carolina Outer Banks (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 25Surface weather map of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane moving up the west coast of Florida (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 26An example of a chart for Matthew showing its five-day forecast track (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 27Tropical 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 282017 Atlantic hurricane season summary map (from Cyclone)
Image 29Flooding 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 30
North Indian Ocean cyclone
(from Cyclone)
Image 31Personnel and equipment from the National Guard of the United States en route to Hurricane Florence response efforts in 2018
Image 32
Atlantic hurricane
(from Cyclone)
Image 33Hurricane response involves working in hazardous conditions, including contamination and electrocution hazards from floodwater.

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

Map showing the highest rainfall totals measured in certain regions of the contiguous United States as of 2020. — Contiguous U.S. tropical cyclone rainfall maximum per state as of 2023

Tropical cyclones move into the contiguous United States from the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The highest rainfall totals in the country have been measured across the Gulf Coast and lower portions of the Eastern Seaboard. Intermediate amounts have been measured across the Southwest, New England, and the Midwest. The northern Great Plains and Pacific Northwest have received the lowest amounts, as those regions lie exceptionally far from the breeding grounds of Atlantic and Eastern Pacific tropical cyclones.

The wettest tropical cyclone in the United States storm on record is Hurricane Harvey, which dumped 60.58 in (1,539 mm) of rain on Southeast Texas in 2017. Tropical Storm Claudette holds the national 24-hour rainfall record: 42.00 in (1,067 mm) in Alvin, Texas. (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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Article requests : WikiProject Tropical cyclones article requests
Expand : Indianola Hurricane of 1886, Typhoon Nina (1975)
Stubs : Expand Tropical cyclone stub articles
Wikify : Make sure tropical cyclone lists, such as List of Texas hurricanes, have storm articles properly linked

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