UPSC Articles
Super Typhoon Rai
Part of: Prelims and GS I – Geography
Context Super Typhoon Rai has hit the Philippines.
About Typhoon
- Typhoon and hurricane are two of the regionally specific names for strong tropical cyclones
- Tropical cyclones are rotating, organized systems of clouds and thunderstorms that originate over tropical or subtropical waters and have closed, low-level circulation.
- What a tropical cyclone gets called is determined by the ocean it forms over and how severe it becomes.
- In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, tropical cyclones are called hurricanes.
- In the Northwest Pacific, they are known as typhoons.
Super Typhoon
- Since 2009 the Hong Kong Observatory has divided typhoons into three different classifications: typhoon, severe typhoon and super typhoon.
- A typhoon has wind speed of 118–149 km/h, a severe typhoon has winds of at least 150 km/h, and a super typhoon has winds of at least 190 km/h.
