People just learning difference between cyclones and tornadoes as Hurricane Milton rages on

In light of Hurricane Milton currently devastating the west coast of Florida, people have been asking what is the difference between a , a cyclone and a typhoon.

after days of building in the Gulf of Mexico. Meteorologists have branded the natural disaster a “once in a century” storm, which has now been downgraded from to Category Three. Authorities have warned however that Milton has grown bigger in size and now threatens more areas of the Florida coastline.

Nearly three million homes and businesses have been left without power, terrifying wind speeds of around 120mph caused the roof of a stadium to be ripped off and a crane to collapse, and multiple people have died from storm surges of up to 12 feet of water. At its peak, Milton sustained wind speeds of 155mph.

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The terrifying storm comes just two weeks after Hurricane Helene destroyed much of the state’s north ‘Big Bend’ region – but how do hurricanes differ from other weather events?

Hurricanes and typhoons are actually the same kind of phenomenon – a tropical cyclone. Huge tropical storms which can only form over the water's surface, spin and are fed by warm air. They begin over oceans and pick up energy as the warm air picks up water and rises.

The warm air rising into the storm forms an area of low pressure underneath which then more air rushes in to fill the gap. This causes a spinning cycle and forms clouds and thunderstorms. The water picked up by the warm air condenses and forms droplets, which releases even more power for the storm.

The difference in name comes from the location of each storm. Tropical cyclones that form in the Atlantic Ocean and north-eastern Pacific Ocean are known as hurricanes, while those that form in the north-western Pacific Ocean, close to places like and Japan are known as typhoons. Cyclones is the south Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The location where they form also determines which direction they will spin. Cyclones rotate clockwise, the opposite direction to typhoons and hurricanes, because they are formed in the Southern Hemisphere.

Tornadoes are not as large as but still very violent spinning columns of air that are formed only over land. They occur when the ground temperature increases and moist air heats and starts to rise.

A video explaining the differences between the storms was shared on TikTok and people watching were baffled that they never knew this information. One person replied: “What is school teaching us then i never knew this.” Another person added: “You’ve just taught me more than my teacher.”

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