What's the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Hurricane?

It's one of, if not, the strongest storm ever recorded on the planet. Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines with winds touching 235 miles per hour. Trace looks at how this typhoon differs from hurricanes and what ingredients combined to create such a monster.

Read More:
Super Typhoon Haiyan: Photos
"Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most intense cyclones on record, hit the Philippines this morning with sustained winds of 195 mph and gusts up to 235 mph, killing four people and terrifying millions."

Discovery News Storm Tracker:
"One of the most intense typhoons on record whipped the Philippines Friday, killing three people and terrifying millions as monster winds tore roofs off buildings and giant waves washed away flimsy homes."

Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of strongest storms ever, hits central Philippines
"With 25 million people in its path, Super Typhoon Haiyan -- one of the strongest storms recorded on the planet -- smashed into the Philippines on Friday morning."

The only difference between a hurricane, a cyclone, and a typhoon is the location where the storm occurs
"Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term "hurricane" is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a "typhoon" and "cyclones" occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean."

How Do Cyclones, Hurricanes and Typhoons Differ?
"Cyclone, typhoon and hurricane are all just different names for the same basic weather phenomenon."

Hurricane vs Typhoon
""A cyclone is any mass of air that spirals around a low pressure center. It is an organized collection of thunderstorms embedded in a swirling mass of air."

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

Watch More:
How Hurricanes Get Named
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[andyabajo]

Super typhoons are frequent in the Philippines. For the last decades we experience 3 super typhoons. And honestly the experience if youre one of those is terrifying. 200mph winds with gust of over 273mph or more. Its like a an F5 tornado. Mind you tornadoes only occurs on a short period of time and damages can be as wide as 2-3 miles and spans 10-15 miles. But for a typhoon? Having a power of an F5 tornado for hundreds of miles and spans thousands if kilometers is just unimaginable.

[viperFpilot]

almost 400 km/hour that's freakin fast man!!!

[BartvG]

I'll tell you what the difference is. I can't rock you like a typhoon.

[DaveArroyo]

I woke up as early as 3 AM to find news about Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). It's 6:30 AM here in the Philippines and the sun has rose. Thank God we're safe here in Batangas. My prayers to the victims.

[Saaintan]

It's nowhere near the biggest, just one of the strongest. Super Typhoon Tip holds the record comforatably for the biggest typhoon in terms of area.

[dapperfield]

The Typhoon was an improvement of the previous Tempest, eliminating the deterioration of performance and other issues. It was supposed to replace the Hurricane, but further issues prevented it from doing so and instead served along it in the latter months of the war.

[RetroYouthYouthRetro]

Hurricane Patricia is 200MPH (and expected to increase).
I wish you guys down there the best of luck.

[MrSelidor]

The word typhoon comes from the Chinese (Cantonese I think) Tai Fung meaning Supreme wind.

[Areya-Sunshine]

Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the Philippines!  Stay safe!  Stay strong!

[harasnicole]

Storms of all shapes and sizes are fascinating to me. Scary, if you live in the area of a particular one, but fascinating all the same.

[yellowumrella]

3 names for the same thing?

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED ! ! !

[cotes]

I live in Hong Kong and we didn't get much wind or rain from that typhoon but we do often get typhoons. As a Canadian, I used to look forward to snowdays off from school, but here we get Typhoons and Black Rain Storm signal days. Typhoons level 10 are crazy scary and we only get about 1 every few years, but often get level 3 and 8. No one works at level 8 yahoo!

[nxilp.]

How come my teachers never bothered to tell me they were all the same thing 🤔

[ryangee]

bro you said two contradicting things, you said the hurricane and typhoon can spin either direction, but you proceed to say in the so and so hemisphere they spin clock wise and the other spins counter clock wise. thats what we wanted to know. you said there was no difference in so what is it? you're confusing me.

[mr.noseybonk]

What in Sam's Hell? I just got told a Typhoon is bigger than a Tsunami haha.

[RenCa]

Filipinos took every precaution on this super typhoon. From People fleeing to the evac centers, to rescuers preparing every rescuing materials.

Super typhoon Yolanda (haiyan) isn't only capable of tearing a small house's roof but can also take down trees like tornados.

Flood is still rising in some areas and I worry about the people living in Bohol, Visayas who suffered a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month which is an area prone to landslides.

[TheHazeist]

Thanks for this. The difference between the two has been bugging me since I was yesterday years old. And I keep forgetting to look it up. So, ty.

[workingman]

I lived in the Philippines for 11 years. The only difference between tornados, hurricanes, Typhoons is basically its size. wind storms are more intense the smaller they are. Tornadoes are the most powerful of the 3, but its very small. Hurricanes are usually bigger covering much more land mass and tend to be tightly more compact and is usually a little bit more intense than a Typhoon. A typhoon however is massive, not as powerful but is a massive storm that covers more land mass. The more dense the more powerful. If a typhoon was more powerful than a tornado then civilization could not exist in coastal areas

[itspat]

Kahit na may bagyo kaya parin ngumiti ng pinoy @ pinay :)

[rybob]

We have been learning this all this week in science, almost everything he said in the video, I learned in class this week. What a coincidence.