Cyclone Debbie hits Queensland, Australia

[Vixen]

Not yet.

They all spiral.

Hurricanes, Typhoons ,and Cyclones are all exactly the same weather event. They just apply to different places. The term "cyclone" is also a generic term for that type of storm from the POV of a meteorologist.

In other words, a hurricane is a "cyclone". A typhoon is also a "cyclone". And unsurprisingly, a cyclone is a "cyclone" too.

That the three different names are used for three different parts of the world is just an artifact of adopted custom.

I did know they were named according to where they emanated. It struck me that if Cyclone Debbie has moved down from Texas...then, surely...ah never mind...

One thing's for sure - and I am sure quadraginta - will correct me if I'm wrong: In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.

(Cue much googling )

 

[Polaris]

I preferred it when she did Dallas.

We could use the rain.

 

[arthwollipot]

I did know they were named according to where they emanated. It struck me that if Cyclone Debbie has moved down from Texas...then, surely...ah never mind...

That could never happen, but if it did, it would probably be called by the first major name it acquired. Especially in these days of global media.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Only Cain correctly answered the question.

 

[quadraginta]

To be clear, they're not named differently according to where they originate. They are named differently in different countries. The same storm system that will be named a tropical cyclone in Australia will be named a typhoon in Asia.

Cyclone Debbie is what we in Australia are calling it. It's the most important name because it's hitting us, and not another country. If it were hitting another country, I would care about what that country named it, but we in Australia might still refer to it as a cyclone, because that's what we call them.

To be clearer still;

This may be true of common parlance used by locals talking in a bar or on a street corner.

And I would be unsurprised (although a bit disappointed perhaps) to hear locals around here call your storm 'Hurricane Debbie'. But if they had learned about it by watching the news and weather on TV they would have been told it was called 'Cyclone Debbie'.

But as far as professionals are concerned ...

The National Ocean Service (a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has this to say about that.

The only difference between a hurricane, a cyclone, and a typhoon is the location where the storm occurs.

I want to note that the emphasis is theirs, not mine.

None of the meteorologists living and working here in the U.S. are going to call Debbie a hurricane, even though they are speaking here in the U.S.

That's because the convention in meteorology is to call a storm of that sort which occurs in that part of the world a "Cyclone".


Another evidence of the formality of this distinction can be seen in the fact that the lists of designated tropical cyclone storm names are separated by geographic region as well, with care taken to ensure that duplicate names do not exist across those regions. This is all sorted out and made official by the World Meteorological Organization.

Hence, although there can be a tropical cyclone storm named "Hurricane Debby" in the Atlantic, there can never be a "Hurricane Debbie", because the storm name "Debbie" is reserved for "a tropical cyclone storm below 10°S between 90°E and 160°E".

Due to this formal assignation any tropical cyclone storm named Debbie would always be officially named "Cyclone Debbie".

 

[quadraginta]

That could never happen, but if it did, it would probably be called by the first major name it acquired. Especially in these days of global media.

The media can call anything they want whatever they want. But the officially named storms are named according to a carefully selected and pre-defined set of lists of approved names. With some names used for especially lethal or otherwise notable storms being taken off the lists, much like a jersey number might be retired for a particularly notable athlete.

You might find one piece of weather trivia interesting. It was an Aussie who started the whole thing;

The credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems is generally given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge, who named systems between 1887 and 1907. This system of naming weather systems subsequently fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, until it was revived in the latter part of World War II for the Western Pacific.

 

[rjh01]

Don't know why you would think that. It's a Cat 2 inland. It was nearly a Cat 5 when it hit. It's the news you don't know yet because communications are knocked out that is the problem. The area is also an intensive farming area that grows most of Australia's tomatoes, for example. When a cyclone hit the banana growing areas some time ago (ten years?), we pretty well had no bananas for a year.

Larry, 2006.

Boy, we sure name them good, don't we?

We could be short of certain foods that are grown in North Queensland sometime shortly for a year or so, just like bananas after Larry hit Queensland.

 

[MikeG]

I know, that is why I asked.......

No, clearly you don't know, or you wouldn't have made this mistake:

.....I note Cyclone Debbie is said to be spinning in the opposite direction to ones in the USA, Bahamas, Caribbean: wouldn't that make it a typhoon?.......

 

[a_unique_person]

As was noted earlier, massive amounts of rain now.

 

[Polaris]

We could use the rain.

Me and my big mouth...

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/weather/2017/03/28/storms-threaten-dallas-fort-worth-1-2-punch-afternoon-overnight

 

[PhantomWolf]

As was noted earlier, massive amounts of rain now.

And now that rain is here and dumping on us till Thursday!

 

[a_unique_person]

Floods still ongoing even though rain has stopped. Water working it's way down river systems.

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