what exactly is a cyclone? Is that just another name for what we call hurricane in the U.S.?

Answer 1

Yes a hurricane, cyclone, and typhoon are all the same storms just different names.

Answer 2

A hurricane is a type of cyclone. A tornado is another one, in fact in some areas a tornado is called a cyclone. Have you ever seen a 'dust devil'? That's also a cyclone.

When you have an area of low air pressure, air moves in from the surrounding area to equalize the pressure. Because of the coriolis effect, the moving air swirls in a circle, counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is the same phenomenon as the water swirling down the drain different ways in different hemispheres.

But this swirling motion causes a sort of vortex, a very stable motion that's fed by the difference in air pressure. The swirling air is pulled inwards by the difference in pressure and outwards by centrifugal force, so it ends up going much faster than it would if it just flowed inward. This swirl of air is a cyclone. Sometimes air flows the other way, for one reason or another, and that's called an anti-cyclone.

Answer 3

Tropical revolving storms are called hurricanes in the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific; typhoons in the South China Sea (NW Pacific); and tropical cyclones in the Indian and south Pacific oceans. It is common for the correct name "tropical cyclone" to be abbreviated to "cyclone" so in countries which get tropical cyclones, the word "cyclone" is not used for anything else to avoid confusion.

Answer 4

Yes, but it occurs in the Indian Ocean Basin