How Does Hurricane vs Cyclone vs Typhoon Work?

A hurricane, cyclone, and typhoon are all big storms at sea, they just have different names depending on where they happen.

Imagine you're playing with a toy boat in the bathtub. When you splash water, it makes little waves. But if you really throw your hands into the water, it creates a huge wave that can knock the boat around. That’s like a storm, it starts small and grows big.

• Hurricane is what we call the storm when it happens in the Atlantic Ocean or the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
• Typhoon is the same kind of storm, but it happens in the Western Pacific Ocean.
• Cyclone is a word used mostly in the Indian Ocean and the Southern Pacific Ocean.

They all work the same way: warm water heats up the air above it, making it rise. That pulls more air in to take its place, creating wind, and that wind spins around, forming a big, swirling storm. It’s like when you swirl your finger in a bowl of soup, the soup moves in circles around your finger.

So no matter what you call it, it's just a big, spinning storm at sea! A hurricane, cyclone, and typhoon are all big storms at sea, they just have different names depending on where they happen.

Imagine you're playing with a toy boat in the bathtub. When you splash water, it makes little waves. But if you really throw your hands into the water, it creates a huge wave that can knock the boat around. That’s like a storm, it starts small and grows big.