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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).
In the excerpt “A powerful typhoon that struck Hong Kong on Sunday” the CORRECT synonym for the underlined word is: