During hurricane season, you often hear that cyclones have weakened or strengthened into a tropical depression, tropical storm, or even a hurricane.
But what do they mean and what is the difference? The key between these three phenomena consists in the strength of their winds, which increases the level of possible destruction that they would leave in the areas that impact.
Here we explain what each one consists of and what their differences are.
Heat and humidity are the main elements in the formation of any tropical cyclone. Water evaporating from the ocean surface must be hotter than 80° Fahrenheit for a low-pressure system to form in tropical waters, consisting of clouds, showers, and thunderstorms.
As detailed by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), if the wave intensifies and its winds increase to about 38 miles per hour, it becomes a Tropical depression.
When they start from 39 mph but stay within 73 mph, it is considered a tropical storm. If the phenomenon has sustained winds of 74 mph or more, it is already called a hurricane.
Hurricanes, in the same way, are classified according to their intensity, since it depends on the speed of their winds, the categories are attributed to them.
The Saffir-Simpson scale classifies them as follows:
HOW DO THE EL NIÑO AND LA NIÑA PHENOMENA CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HURRICANES?
The World Meteorological Organization (OMM) explains that during the El Niño phenomenon the temperature of the sea surface in the central and eastern part of the tropical Pacific is usually higher, while, in those same regions, during La Niña episodes the temperature is lower. However, in the Atlantic Ocean, during the La Niña phenomenon, the waters are warmer.
With El Niño, the shear winds are stronger, thus decapitating storms and interrupting their development. Meanwhile, during the La Niña phenomenon, there are a greater number of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin due to the high temperatures of the ocean.
On the other hand, in the Neutral phase, wind shears are light or almost non-existent, which also allows hurricanes to develop, since there are no components that limit the systems.
FORECAST THAT THE EL NIÑO PHENOMENON WILL OCCUR THIS SUMMER
The WMO warned of greater chances of El Niño producing at least two very hot years, after in 2015 and 2022 the planet had the eight warmest years on record.
“We expect a serious increase in global temperature in the next two years,” the director of the WMO Prediction Services Department, Wilfran Mufuma, anticipated at a press conference in Geneva, who nevertheless stressed that new studies must be awaited to quantify this further warming.
According to the report presented by the expert, the El Niño phenomenon, which in some regions of the planet is usually accompanied by floods and in others by droughts, has a 60% chance of triggering before July, and the probability increases to 80% in September.
