What are the differences among twisters, typhoons, cyclones, whirlwinds, gales, hurricanes and tornadoes?

Answer 1

typhoon's is a different name to a hurricane, only difference is, it's in the pacific vs the atlantic. also, typhoon's can pack a vicious punch from more area of water they can cover. a category 5 hurricane would be considered a 'super typhoon'. cyclone's is also a hurricane..of another name in the bay of bengal near india. the storms are all the same, its just where they're at is where the different 'tags' come into play.

a gale is very strong winds that are usually pressure gradient; the area that's between the backside of a low pressure along with a very strong high pressure system winds up usually getting extremely strong winds. the winds are called gales if they get a certain speed.

a tornado is a storm that is mother nature's version of a b-52 airstrike. they can be as small as 100 yards, or they can steamroll along being a mile wide. a tornado can make the strongest hurricane seem to be a summer breeze; 155 mph is a category 5 hurricane. that isnt even close to a f-3 tornado, and the most powerful tornado is the f-5; 318 mph winds was recorded in an f-5 tornado at moore, ok during the may 3rd 1999 outbreak.

Answer 2

Hurricane, Cyclone and Typhoon are the same phenomenon only called by those different terms in different regions of the world. Hurricane is use in America, Typhoon in Asia, Cyclone (or Tropical Cyclone) in Australia and the South Pacific. Cyclones/Typhoons/Hurricanes are usually borne over warm tropical waters and dissipate some time after they make landfall over a continent. A Tornado is born over land and causes damage in a very tight corridor at much higher speeds. A tornado can arrive as quickly as it departs. Note: Hurricanes and Typhoons rotate the in the opposite direction to Cyclones (which are a southern hemisphere thing).

Answer 3

This is an excellent question and I answer a lot of these kinds of questions from those of you who are interested in meteorology. Just a day or so ago I answered a similar question concerning tornadoes and hurricanes this way:


"good question. These two phenomena are vastly different. About the only commonality is their cyclonic flow and their destructive nature. The tornado forms in very unstable air with warm moist air flowing from the south near the surface and with dry and strong westerly flow at higher altitudes. They form out of existing cumulonimbus clouds without very much warning time and last only less than an hour.

Hurricanes form in the tropics generally between 10 and 15 degrees north latitude. They form when monsoonal winds (southwesterly winds) develop south of the trade winds (easterlies). This provides the trigger for cyclonic circulation. The surface temperature must be > or equal to 28C and there must be very little shear (large changes in wind direction or speed with altitude) which could remove any latent heat that has been generated by condensation of water vapor and which contributes to a developing low pressure center. The developing storm grows out of an area of disorganized cumulus clouds called a convective cloud cluster, grows into a tropical depression at which time it is given a number, tracked and monitored by both satellite and aircraft. From a depression it will deepen (Lower pressure) into a tropical storm (when it is given a name) and finally a hurricane.

I hope this helps somewhat. I've over 40 years as a meteorologist who specialized in both tropical meteorology (BS,MS, PhD in tropical cyclones in the western Pacific Ocean) and Satellite meteorology, both instrumentation and interpretation."

The only phenomena you mentioned which is not really in the category of cyclonic circulation is a gale, which is simply a strong straight line wind for the most part. Twisters are just another name for tornadoes. Cyclones is the name given to both extratropical low pressure centers along fronts in the mid and higher latitudes as well as tropical storms that form entirely in the tropics. Hurricanes that form in the Indian Ocean are even called Cyclones instead of hurricanes. And finally whirlwinds are generally of the dustdevil variety. But these occur on much smaller time and spatial scales than tornadoes which in turn occur on much smaller time and spatial scales than hurricanes.

Answer 4

the region in which they occur. Different regions have different names for these storms. Twisters are tornadoes, Typhoons, cyclones, hurricanes are all ocean-bound storms, whirlwinds and gales are only windy storms.

Answer 5

twister-a whirlwind or tornado.

typhoon-a tropical cyclone or hurricane of the western Pacific area and the China seas.

cyclone-a large-scale, atmospheric wind-and-pressure system characterized by low pressure at its center and by circular wind motion, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

whirlwind-any of several relatively small masses of air rotating rapidly around a more or less vertical axis and advancing simultaneously over land or sea, as a dust devil, tornado, or waterspout.

gale-a very strong wind.

hurricane-a violent, tropical, cyclonic storm of the western North Atlantic, having wind speeds of or in excess of 72 mph (32 m/sec).

tornado-a localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring over land, esp. in the Middle West, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris.