Why don certain areas in Asia, like Singapore, have typhoons, tornadoes or other disastrous weather?
Singapore is only 1.36 degrees of latitude north of the equator, which puts it about as deep into the tropics as you can go. This means that it’s far away from outbreaks of cold air that can help stir up severe thunderstorms and tornadoes when they move into areas where it’s warm. Tropical cyclones, such as typhoons, do not need cold air. In fact, they form over warm oceans and cold (either water or air) is fatal to them. (Related: What makes a storm a hurricane) But, tropical cyclones generally do not form within about five or so degrees of latitude from equator because the Coriolis effect, caused by Earth’s rotation, is not strong enough to create the swirl of wind and thunderstorms around a center that tropical cyclones need. (Related: Understanding the Coriolis force) This is the usual case, but as people in Singapore learned on Dec. 27, 2001, the weather doesn’t always obey the rules. A tropical storm formed that day just east of Singapore over the South China Sea and grew into 75
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- Why don certain areas in Asia, like Singapore, have typhoons, tornadoes or other disastrous weather?
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