Is a cyclone a hurricane? If so, why was what hit Burma called a cyclone and not a hurricane?How are they diff

Question

Is a cyclone a hurricane? If so, why was what hit Burma called a cyclone and not a hurricane?How are they diff

Answer 1

There's a lot of misinformation about this.  The term "cyclone" has many different meanings, but in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal it's completely synonymous with what's called a hurricane in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. That's what hit Burma.

In North America it can be synonymous with "tornado."

Meteorologists refer to all low pressure areas as cyclones.

It used to mean a strong and destructive wind of any kind, but it's come to mean different things in different places, like many other words.

Answer 2

A cyclone is a hurricane. They are the same exact thing except where they form. Hurricanes form in the Atlantic Ocean and East Pacific Ocean.  Cyclones form in the Indian and South Pacific Oceans and typhoons form in the West Pacific Ocean.

Answer 3

a cyclone is a tornado.

Answer 4

A cyclone is when you have air spinning around a center of low  pressure.  So a tornado, a closed upper low pressure system, a tropical storm, a hurricane, a dust devil, a water spout, etc are all different forms of a cyclone.  However in some countries, especially in areas near the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, where the word Cyclone was first used to describe a strong tropical system, they continue to use the their native word "cyclone" to refer to strong tropical systems.  

Hurricane must meet the required strength and tropical characteristics, where as cyclone for the rest of the world do not.

Answer 5

Yes. A cyclone is a hurricane. They are the exact same thing, they are just called different in different parts of the world. Cyclones form in the indian ocean. That is why the burma one was called a cyclone because it formed in the indian ocean. If that same storm would have formed in the atlantic ocean, then it would been called a hurricane.

Answer 6

Hurricane = tropical cyclone = typhoon

"cyclone" is not often used as a word alone without additional qualification

Note: tornado is small in size compare to cyclone