Is a hurricane an actual tornado that goes all the way down in the ocean?

Question

Ive always wondered if it was

or is it like a huge tornado like 'whirlpool'

Answer 1

No. They are different in size and in the factors that cause them.
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A tropical cyclone is a meteorological term for a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and thunderstorms that produces strong wind and flooding rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on the heat released when moist air rises and the water vapor it contains condenses. 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.


A tornado is a violently rotating column of air which is in contact with both a cumulonimbus (or, in rare cases, a cumulus) cloud base and the surface of the earth. Tornadoes come in many sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris.

Answer 2

No, a hurricane should not be thought of as a tornado. But, they do have some similar characteristics.

A hurricane or tropical cyclone is called different things in different parts of the world but they are the same. For example, in the Indian Ocean they are referred to as cyclones, in Australia willy-willies, in the western Pacific as typhoons and in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans as hurricanes.

Tropical cyclones are the ultimate in a heat engines. It takes water vapor and transforms a small portion of the latent heat in water vapor into energy. The vast amount of water vapor needed to support a hurricane dictates that it can only form and maintain itself while over open...warm waters of an ocean or sea. The hurricane in a sort of simplistic sense can be thought of as a well organized cluster of thunderstorms that are mutually supporting and contribute additional heat to the tropical storm. Tropical cyclones form in areas adjacent to the equator (theoretically not on the equator) and turn counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. A hurricane, which has many thunderstorms, which can and do produce tornadoes as them come ashore which adds to the destructive force of the hurricane. On the other hand, a tornado can never become a hurricane. The tornado is the product of a single updraft within a thunderstorm. While the largest tornados are normally less than a mile wide...the hurricane can often have destructive force winds that extend 30 to as much as 100 miles (sometimes more) from the center of the hurricane.

Answer 3

The tornado which forms over ocean is called waterspout.It is a funnel-shaped cloud which extends from the base of the cumulonimbus cloud to the sea surface.This appears as a column of water whose diameter may vary from between a few tens and a few hundreds of feet.This may last for few hours only and travel a few Kms only.
But a hurricane is a large system whose diameter may be more than 500 miles and last for many days and may travel a distance of more than 1000 Kms .This will have a calm,rainless centre.This centre can be seen as an eye in satellite pictures.This requires warm sea surface,high humidity upto an appreciable height and horizontal convergence of winds at lower levels for their formation.Steep lapse rate is also required.
Even though both have whirling motions,the way they form is completely different.

Answer 4

No, a hurricane is a much bigger storm that forms over warm ocean water. A tornado forms over land. Tornadoes cover a much smaller area.A hurricane can spawn tornadoes in the thunderstorms.

Answer 5

Hurricanes are very large storms over a hundred miles across. They tend to perist for long periods of time (many days) and have winds from 74-170 MPH.

Tornadoes are much smaller, typically less than a mile across and only last minutes or hours but have winds of 40-300 MPH.

Answer 6

Tornados are from a hurricane family but they are completely different.

Answer 7

the other answers are correct. A tornado over water is called a water spout.

Answer 8

A tornado out at sea is called a waterspout. Just fyi.