Super Typhoon Rai

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.