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Typhoon, Hurricane, Cyclone: What's the Difference?

                                                              By Ker Than, for National Geographic

                                                              Published September 25, 2013.

    A powerful typhoon that struck Hong Kong on Sunday killed at least 30 people and forced the evacuation of thousands of people on the China mainland, and hundreds of flights were canceled. Typhoon Usagi— Japanese for rabbit—is the third and strongest Pacific typhoon to form this year. It was classified as a severe, or "super," typhoon after meteorologists recorded gusts of up to 160 miles per hour (260 kilometers per hour).

     If you've never lived in Asia, you might be wondering what it feels like to experience a typhoon. But if you've ever survived a hurricane or cyclone, you already know the answer. That's because hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon. Scientists just call these storms different things depending on where they occur.

     In the Atlantic and northern Pacific, the storms are called "hurricanes," after the Caribbean god of evil, named Hurrican. In the northwestern Pacific, the same powerful storms are called "typhoons." In the southeastern Indian Ocean and southwestern Pacific, they are called "severe tropical cyclones. In the northern Indian Ocean, they're called "severe cyclonic storms." In the southwestern Indian Ocean, they're just "tropical cyclones."

    To be classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone, a storm must reach wind speeds of at least 74 miles per hour (119 kilometers per hour). If a hurricane's winds reach speeds of 111 miles per hour (179 kilometers per hour), it is upgraded to an "intense hurricane." If a typhoon hits 150 miles per hour (241 kilometers per hour)—as Usagi did—then it becomes a "supertyphoon."

(Excerpt from the site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130923- typhoon-hurricanecycloneprimernaturaldisaster/?source=hp_dl2_news_typhoon_e xplainer_20130924. Researched on: October 2015).