Weather Words: Typhoon

Americans refer to the sport with the white and black ball as “soccer,” yet if you ask someone in the U.K., it’s “football.” The same kind of name swap happens in weather. What we call a hurricane in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific is known as a typhoon in the northwestern Pacific.

Both are powerful tropical systems. Massive, spinning storms fueled by warm ocean waters and moist air. Once wind speeds hit 74 mph or more, they earn their official title, whether it’s “hurricane” or “typhoon.” The only real difference is where they form. Depending on its strength, a typhoon can cause catastrophic wind damage, flash flooding, and deadly storm surge, just as a hurricane can.

A typhoon is the same type of storm as a hurricane, but it forms in a different part of the world. Typhoons develop over the warm waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean, typically between May and October.

No matter what you call them, hurricanes and typhoons are both violent forces of nature, capable of reshaping coastlines, toppling trees, and reminding us of just how powerful the planet’s weather can be.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.