Portal:Tropical cyclones

The Tropical Cyclones Portal

A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center, a closed low-level circulation and a spiral arrangement of numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rainfall. Tropical cyclones feed on the heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as Nor'easters, European windstorms and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems. Most tropical cyclones originate in the doldrums, approximately ten degrees from the Equator.

The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, as well as to their formation in maritime tropical air masses. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic nature, with anticlockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on its location and intensity, a tropical cyclone may be referred to by names such as "hurricane", "typhoon", "tropical storm", "cyclonic storm", "tropical depression" or simply "cyclone".

Types of cyclone: 1. A "Typhoon" is a tropical cyclone located in the North-west Pacific Ocean which has the most cyclonic activity and storms occur year-round. 2. A "Hurricane" is also a tropical cyclone located at the North Atlantic Ocean or North-east Pacific Ocean which have an average storm activity and storms typically form between May 15 and November 30. 3. A "Cyclone" is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Selected named cyclone -

Cyclone Veronica at peak intensity nearing its landfall in Western Australia on 21 March

Severe Tropical Cyclone Veronica was a large and powerful tropical cyclone which brought major impacts to the Pilbara region of Western Australia during March 2019. The nineteenth tropical low, eighth tropical cyclone and fifth severe tropical cyclone on the 2018–19 Australian region cyclone season, Veronica first appeared as a tropical low near East Timor on 18 March 2019. The system was slow to develop initially while tracking southwestwards through the Timor Sea, but began to consolidate the following day. The storm was upgraded by the Bureau of Meteorology to a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale at 18:00 UTC on 19 March, by which time a steady development trend had begun. Upon attaining Category 2 status at 06:00 UTC on 20 March, Veronica underwent a period of explosive intensification. The system became a severe tropical cyclone six hours later, and Category 4 just six hours after that. Veronica reached peak intensity at 06:00 UTC the following day as a high-end Category 4 severe tropical cyclone, with ten-minute sustained winds estimated at 195 km/h (120 mph), and a central barometric pressure of 938 hPa (27.70 inHg). The United States' Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated that the system was generating one-minute sustained winds of 230 km/h (145 mph), equivalent to a mid-range Category 4 major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Veronica proceeded to weaken very gradually over the following few days as it turned towards Western Australia's Pilbara coastline. The system weakened to Category 3 while located just off the Pilbara coast, where it became almost stationary for 24 hours. Veronica began to weaken more quickly as it accelerated westwards on 25 March, tracking parallel to the coast. The system was downgraded below tropical cyclone intensity on 26 March, and after making landfall on North West Cape later that day, the system began to track away from the Australian mainland. Ex-Tropical Cyclone Veronica dissipated on 31 March over the eastern Indian Ocean.

When Veronica struck Australia in March 2019, it flooded major areas and caused about $1.7 billion in economic losses, primarily from disruptions to iron ore exports, although no fatalities were reported, making it one of three billion-dollar tropical cyclones which caused zero deaths, the other two being Typhoon Jongdari in the North Pacific that occurred the previous year, and Hurricane Francine in the North Atlantic which happened more than five years later. Veronica also formed near the time when Cyclone Trevor made landfall in Queensland. Most of the coastal regions of the Pilbara suffered some level of damage. (Full article...)

List of selected named cyclones

Selected article -

A tropical cyclone rainfall climatology is developed to determine rainfall characteristics of past tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone rainfall climatology can be used to help forecast current or upcoming tropical cyclone impacts. The degree of a tropical cyclone rainfall impact depends upon speed of movement, storm size, and degree of vertical wind shear. One of the most significant threats from tropical cyclones is heavy rainfall. Large, slow moving, and non-sheared tropical cyclones produce the heaviest rains. The intensity of a tropical cyclone appears to have little bearing on its potential for rainfall over land, but satellite measurements over the last several years show that more intense tropical cyclones produce noticeably more rainfall over water. Flooding from tropical cyclones remains a significant cause of fatalities, particularly in low-lying areas. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected image -

Cyclone Inigo near peak intensity, as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian region scale, with 10-minute sustained winds of 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) and 1-minute sustained winds of 160 miles per hour (260 km/h). This image was taken from by one of NASA's EOSDIS satellites on April 4, 2003, while the cyclone was to the south of Indonesia.

Selected season -

The 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season was the second most active North Indian Ocean cyclone season on record in terms of cyclonic storms, the 1992 season was more active, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The season featured 12 depressions, 11 deep depressions, 8 cyclonic storms, 6 severe cyclonic storms, 6 very severe cyclonic storms, 3 extremely severe cyclonic storms, and 1 super cyclonic storm, Kyarr, the first since Cyclone Gonu in 2007. Additionally, it also became the third-costliest season recorded in the North Indian Ocean, only behind the 2020 and 2008 seasons.

The season's first named storm, Pabuk, entered the basin on January 4, becoming the earliest-forming cyclonic storm of the North Indian Ocean on record. The second cyclone of the season, Cyclone Fani, at the time was the strongest tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal by 3-minute maximum sustained wind speed until it got tied with Cyclone Mocha of 2023, and minimum barometric pressure since the 1999 Odisha cyclone, while being equal in terms of maximum 3-minute sustained wind speed to 2007's Sidr and 2013's Phailin. Further activity occurred in October, and in the latter part of that month, the first and only super cyclonic storm of the 2010s, Kyarr, formed. (Full article...)

List of selected seasons

Related portals

Currently active tropical cyclones

Italicized basins are unofficial.

North Atlantic (2025): Tropical Storm Chantal

East and Central Pacific (2025): No active systems

West Pacific (2025): Tropical Storm Mun; Typhoon Danas (Bising)

North Indian Ocean (2025): No active systems

Mediterranean (2025–26): No active systems

South-West Indian Ocean (2025–26): No active systems

Australian region (2025–26): No active systems

South Pacific (2025–26): No active systems

South Atlantic (2025–26): No active systems

Last updated: 23:57, 5 July 2025 (UTC)

Tropical cyclone anniversaries

July 7,

1993 - Hurricane Calvin hit the Mexican coast near Manzanillo. Calvin caused over $32 million of damage and killed 34 people.
2008 - Recognized as the long-lived Atlantic hurricane on record during July, Hurricane Bertha (pictured) reaches its peak intensity as a Category 3 major hurricane. Bertha only killed three people.

July 8, 2005 - Hurricane Dennis (pictured) made its second Cuban landfall with 220 km/h (140 mph) winds. Dennis caused between $4 billion and $6 billion of damage, mostly in Cuba and the United States.

July 9,

1995 - Tropical Storm Barry made landfall on Hart Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Barry brought only minor effects to the province.
2015 - Typhoon Chan-hom (pictured) reached its peak intensity with 1-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph), just a day before it made landfall over in Zhejiang which caused about CN¥5.86 billion (US$944 million) in damages.

Did you know…

…that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center considers that Typhoon Vera (pictured) of 1986 is actually two distinct systems, formed from two separated low-level circulations?
…that Cyclone Freddy (track pictured) in 2023 was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone recorded?
…that the typhoons of 2024—Yinxing, Toraji, Usagi, and Man-yi (pictured)—made history as the first recorded instance since 1951 of four tropical cyclones coexisting in November?
…that Hurricane Otis (pictured) in 2023 was the first Pacific hurricane to make landfall at Category 5 intensity and surpassed Hurricane Patricia as the strongest landfalling Pacific hurricane on record?

General images -

The following are images from various tropical cyclone-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Percentages of hurricane deaths in the United States from 1970 to 1999. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 2Aerial image of destroyed houses in Tacloban, following Typhoon Haiyan (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 3Tropical cyclones form when the energy released by the condensation of moisture in rising air causes a positive feedback loop over warm ocean waters. (from Cyclone)
Image 4Comparison between extratropical and tropical cyclones on surface analysis (from Cyclone)
Image 5Broken concrete utility pole in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017, which ranks fourth in costliest US tropical cyclones. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 6The dangerous semicircle is the upper-right corner, with the arrow marking the direction of motion of a Northern Hemisphere storm. Note that typhoons, etc. are asymmetrical, and semicircle is a convenient misnomer. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 7Subtropical Storm Alex in the north Atlantic Ocean in January 2016 (from Cyclone)
Image 8A fictitious synoptic chart of an extratropical cyclone affecting the UK and Ireland. The blue arrows between isobars indicate the direction of the wind, while the "L" symbol denotes the centre of the "low". Note the occluded, cold and warm frontal boundaries. (from Cyclone)
Image 9An extratropical cyclone near Iceland (from Cyclone)
Image 10Flooding in Port Arthur, Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey. Harvey was the wettest and second-costliest tropical cyclone in United States history. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 11Chart with concurrent information for Hurricane Arlene and Tropical Storm Bret logged and plotted (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 12Radar image of Hurricane Erika making landfall over Northeastern Mexico (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 13Hurricane response involves working in hazardous conditions, including contamination and electrocution hazards from floodwater.
Image 14A polar low over the Sea of Japan in December 2009 (from Cyclone)
Image 15Several cyclones on the dynamic north pole of Jupiter, imaged by Juno (from Cyclone)
Image 16Personnel and equipment from the National Guard of the United States en route to Hurricane Florence response efforts in 2018
Image 17Cyclone on Mars, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (from Cyclone)
Image 18Hurricane Florence viewed from the International Space Station (from Cyclone)
Image 19Surface weather map of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane moving up the west coast of Florida (from Tropical cyclone observation)
Image 20An example of a chart for Matthew showing its five-day forecast track (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 21The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. Katrina was the costliest tropical cyclone in United States history. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 22The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi. (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)
Image 23The initial extratropical low-pressure area forms at the location of the red dot on the image. It is usually perpendicular (at a right angle to) the leaf-like cloud formation seen on satellite during the early stage of cyclogenesis. The location of the axis of the upper level jet stream is in light blue. (from Cyclone)
Image 24Hurricane Isabel (2003)'s effect on the North Carolina Outer Banks (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 25The number of $1 billion Atlantic hurricanes almost doubled from the 1980s to the 2010s, and inflation-adjusted costs have increased more than elevenfold. The increases have been attributed to climate change and to greater numbers of people moving to coastal areas. (from Effects of tropical cyclones)
Image 26All but the most expensive bottles of water were sold out at this Publix supermarket before Hurricane Irma; in the week preceding the storm, water sold out soon after shipments arrived (from Tropical cyclone preparedness)

Featured list -

This is a featured list, which represents some of the best list articles on English Wikipedia.

The following is a list of tropical cyclones that affected the U.S. state of Delaware. Since reliable records began, no tropical cyclone has struck the state while maintaining hurricane intensity, and only two storms since 1851 caused hurricane-force winds in the state.

October 21, 1749 – A hurricane impacted the Mid-Atlantic, and impacts were observed in Delaware, but it's unclear at what strength the storm was when it impacted the state.
Fall, 1783 – Nine large ships crash near Cape Henlopen during a gale, killing several people.
September 2, 1785 – A hurricane causes 181 deaths in the state. Whether or not it made landfall is unknown.
September 3–5, 1815 – A tropical storm passes over extreme southeastern Delaware. Effects, if any, are unknown.
September 3, 1821 – The eye of the Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane moves directly over Cape Henlopen for 30 minutes.
August 17, 1830 – A hurricane that passes to the east of the state capsizes three ships along the Delaware capes. (Full article...)

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Related WikiProjects

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is the central point of coordination for Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones. Feel free to help!

WikiProject Weather is the main center point of coordination for Wikipedia's coverage of meteorology in general, and the parent project of WikiProject Tropical cyclones. Three other branches of WikiProject Weather in particular share significant overlaps with WikiProject Tropical cyclones:

The Non-tropical storms task force coordinates most of Wikipedia's coverage on extratropical cyclones, which tropical cyclones often transition into near the end of their lifespan.
The Floods task force takes on the scope of flooding events all over the world, with rainfall from tropical cyclones a significant factor in many of them.
WikiProject Severe weather documents the effects of extreme weather such as tornadoes, which landfalling tropical cyclones can produce.

Things you can do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : WikiProject Tropical cyclones article requests
Expand : Indianola Hurricane of 1886, Typhoon Nina (1975)
Stubs : Expand Tropical cyclone stub articles
Wikify : Make sure tropical cyclone lists, such as List of Texas hurricanes, have storm articles properly linked

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