Do the terms “cyclone” and “tornado” refer to the same weather event?
The term “cyclone” refers to an area of low pressure that spins in the same direction that the Earth spins. In the Northern Hemisphere a cyclone spins counter-clockwise and in the Southern Hemisphere a cyclone spins clockwise. When thinking about the spin of the earth you must picture the Earth from the top down in the Northern Hemisphere and from the bottom up in the Southern Hemisphere. In this way the earth spins counter-clockwise in the N.H. and clockwise in the S.H. (the same as a low pressure cyclone). With that in mind, the less formal definition for a cyclone is really any area of low pressure like a snowstorm, hurricane, Nor’easter or tornado. More specifically hurricanes are tropical cyclones and in the Indian Ocean hurricanes are called “cyclones”. Tornadoes are not usually talked about as cyclones but essentially because tornadoes are areas of low pressure with an inward spin they can be included as a type of cyclone. Jeff Why are there different times for hi tide on a give
