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DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Geography

Lecture - 44
Cyclones (Part 02)
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Cyclones (Part 02)

Structure of a Tropical Cyclone:

1. Eye:
 The "eye" is a roughly circular area of comparatively light
winds and fair weather found at the center of a severe tropical
cyclone.
 The ‘Eye’ of a cyclone forms when any wind loses its
moisture and turns dry whenever it rises to a particular
height in the atmosphere. The wind gets dry and cold at that
altitude due to the cold surroundings, therefore cold winds
will tend to subside or fall down as a result of the more
weight. Thus, inside the cyclone's eye, the winds subside as
they fall down. The descending winds inside the eye go
further downward. Air packets will get compressed due to
high pressure and experiences high temperatures. So dried,
and warmed winds were experienced inside the eye of the
cyclone.
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 The descending winds in the eye occur up to 2 to 3 km from the surface of the earth, so the temperature of
the eye is warmer than the other cyclonic regions.
 Under this condition, there is little or no precipitation (no clouds) and sometimes blue sky (clear sky) or
stars can be seen .
 In the cyclone's "Eye" region, there are no clouds, thunderstorms, or lightning.
 Stability conditions prevail inside the eye of the cyclone and light winds (calm condition) are present.
 The eye is the region of lowest surface pressure and warmest temperatures aloft (in the upper levels) -
The eye temperature may be 10°C warmer or more at an altitude of 12 km than the surrounding environment,
but only 0-2°C warmer at the surface in the tropical cyclone.
 Eyes range in size from 8 km to over 200 km across, but most are approximately 30-60 km in diameter.
2. Eye Wall:
 The eye is surrounded by the "eye wall", the roughly circular
ring of deep convection, which is the area of highest surface
winds in the tropical cyclone.
 Eye Wall is the region where most disturbances, violent winds,
high-velocity winds, and large amounts of instability exist in
this area where thunderstorms, lightning, and rainfall occur.
 The Eye Wall region also sees the maximum sustained winds,
i.e., the fastest winds in a cyclone occur along the eyewall
region.
 The eye is composed of air that is slowly sinking and the eye
wall has a net upward flow as a result of many moderate -
occasionally strong - updrafts and downdrafts. At the same time,
updrafts and downdrafts create friction, and huge thunderstorms
and lightning occur.
 The eye's warm temperatures are due to compressional
warming (adiabatic) of the subsiding air.
 The wind reaches maximum speed (velocity of winds is greater than 250 km/hr) and violent winds in
this region. Torrential rain occurs here.
 This is a region of maximum instability because of thunderstorms due to updrafts and downdrafts in the
region.
 From the eye wall, rain bands may radiate and a mix of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds may drift into
the outer region.
 Most soundings taken within the eye show a low-level layer, which is relatively moist, with an inversion
above - suggesting that the sinking in the eye typically does not reach the ocean surface, but instead only gets
to around 1-3 km of the surface.
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3. Spiral Bands:
 Another feature of tropical cyclones that
probably plays a role in forming and
maintaining the eye is eyewall
convection.
 Spiral bands are the outer section beyond
the eye wall.
 Spiral bands come out of the eye wall.
 Convection in Tropical Cyclones is
organized into long, narrow rain bands that
are oriented in the same direction as the
horizontal wind.
 Because these bands seem to spiral into the center of a tropical cyclone, they are called “Spiral Bands".
 Along these bands, low-level convergence is a maximum, and therefore, upper-level divergence is most
pronounced above.
 Spiral bands cause rainfall and hailstorms.
 This region is comprised of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.
Distribution of Tropical Cyclones:
 Atlantic Region: Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Central American countries.
 Indian Ocean: The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea where they are called Cyclones.
 Around the Southeast African coast and Madagascar-Mozambique islands.
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 Pacific Ocean:
 North Pacific: Philippines Sea, China Sea, and Japan where they are called Typhoons.
 South Pacific: Australian coast (Willy Willy)

Why do Tropical Cyclones Occur in the Above Regions?

 These areas are lying in the tropics, these are regions of high warm temperatures.
 These cyclones occur on the eastern coast of continents because easterlies bring the warm water from east
to west.
 These regions have warm currents like Koroshio, Gulf Stream, Western Australian Current, etc.
Tropical Cyclones:
 Tropical cyclones occur in the range of latitudes 5 degrees to 25 degrees (North and South).
 Due to the southern hemisphere's greater accessibility to ocean water, the northern hemisphere
experiences more cyclones than the southern hemisphere. The essential temperature of 27 degrees
Celsius to cause a cyclone is harder to achieve since the water heats up more slowly.
 High insolation and high heat make it easy to arrive at 27 degrees Celsius temperature in the tropic
region, so tropical cyclones are stricter to latitudes 5 degrees to 25 degrees (North and South).
 Easterlies (Trade winds) bring warm water, and that warm water piles up at the eastern coast of the
continents (latitudes 5 degrees to 25 degrees). So more tropical cyclones occur in this region.
 Warm ocean currents (above 27 degrees Celsius) cause warm waters to exist in the eastern regions.
 Due to the very low Coriolis force below 5 degrees, tropical cyclones only affect areas above 5 degrees
latitude.
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Path of Tropical Cyclones:

 These cyclones start with a westward movement, but turn northwards around 20° latitude.
 They turn further north-eastwards around 25° latitude, and then eastwards around 30° latitude. They then
lose energy and subside.
 Tropical Cyclones follow a parabolic path, their axis being parallel to the isobars.
 Coriolis Force or earth’s rotation, easterly and westerly winds influence the path of a Tropical Cyclone.
 Tropical Cyclones die at 30° latitude because of cool ocean waters and increasing wind shear due to
westerlies.
Temperate Cyclones/Extratropical Cyclones/Wave Cyclones/Mid-Latitude Cyclones/Frontal Cyclones:
 These are low-pressure centers existing in temperate regions.
 The systems developing in the mid and high latitude (40°
latitude and 65° latitude in both hemispheres), beyond the
tropics, are called the Middle Latitude Cyclones or Extra-
Tropical Cyclones or Temperate Cyclones or Frontal Cyclones
or Wave Cyclones.
 According to the Polar Front Theory, the warm-humid air
masses (Westerlies) from the tropics converge with the dry-cold
air masses (Polar Easterlies) from the poles, and thus a polar front
is formed as a surface of discontinuity. They form along the front.
 Such conditions occur over subtropical high, sub-polar low-
pressure belts and along the Tropopause.
 The cold air pushes the warm air upwards from underneath. Thus,
a void is created because of the lessening of pressure. Raising air will
cause condensation which causes clouds and precipitation.
 The surrounding air rushes in to occupy this void and coupled with
the earth’s rotation, a cyclone is formed which advances with the
westerlies (Jet Streams).
 These cyclones are formed gradually and hence predictable.
 The temperate cyclones generally have low speeds and are
dynamically induced.
 There is no eye formation in these types of cyclones.
 The size of these cyclones is an average of 1000 km to 2000km in
diameter. The range of these cyclones is up from 150km to 3,000
km.
 The area of this cyclonic storm is 10 lack square km and height is up to 12km.
 The wind velocity of this cyclone is from 32km/hr to 50km/hr.
 These cyclones move in the direction of westerly winds.
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 Temperature Distribution:
 Cold Sector: North, North West, and North East.
 Warm Sector: South
 The temperate cyclone shape will be elliptical, inverted V-shaped, and Circular.

Distribution of Temperate Cyclones:

 USA and Canada – It extends over the Sierra
Nevada, Aleutian Islands, Alaska Gulf,
Labrador, North of Atlantic, Baltic region,
Mediterranean Region, Colorado, Eastern
Canadian Rockies, and the Great Lakes region,
the belt extending from Iceland to the Barents
Sea and continuing over Russia and Siberia.
 The Mediterranean basin extends up to Russia
and even up to India in winter (called
Western Disturbances) and the Antarctic
frontal zone.
Formation of Temperate Cyclones:
 Stationary Stage: In the Northern Hemisphere, warm air blows from the south, and cold air from the north
of the front. This is called Cyclogenesis. This is the initial stage when both air masses just interact with each
other.
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 Incipient Stage: In the center of this circulation, there is mass convergence. When all that air hits the center,
we have a rising motion because it has nowhere else to go. When the pressure drops along the front, the
warm air moves northwards and the cold air moves towards the south setting in motion an Anticlockwise
Cyclonic Circulation (northern hemisphere). This is due to the Coriolis Force. Cold air mass tries to
penetrate into warm air mass. Warm air mass tries to penetrate cold air mass.
 Mature Stage: The Cyclonic Circulation leads to a well-developed extratropical cyclone, with a warm front
and a cold front. There are pockets of warm air or warm sector wedged between the forward and the rear
cold air or cold sector. Cold air masses dominate and try to lift warm air masses. Then cyclones get fully
developed. The warm air glides over the cold air and a sequence of clouds appear over the sky ahead of the
warm front and cause precipitation. The cold front approaches the warm air from behind and pushes the
warm air up. As a result, Cumulus Clouds develop along the cold front.
 Warm Sector Narrows: The cold front moves faster than the warm front, ultimately overtaking the warm
front. The warm air is completely lifted up and the front is Occluded (occluded front) and the Cyclone
Dissipates. The warm sector is narrowed down completely.
 Final Stage: Cold air mass completely overtakes warm air mass and a temperate cyclone forms. Hail is
associated with severe thunderstorms that form along or in front of cold fronts during the spring and summer
months. The processes of wind circulation both at the surface and aloft are closely interlinked. Temperate
cyclones are intense frontogenesis involving mainly occlusion-type fronts.
The Naming of Cyclones:
 WMO (World Meteorological Organization) divided the world's Oceans into Basins and assigned the
responsibility of naming the Cyclones to the respective regional bodies.
 Each regional body has its own rules for naming cyclones. In most regions, predetermined alphabetical lists
of alternating male and female names are used.
 In the northwest Pacific, the majority of names used are not personal names. While there are a few male and
female names, the majority are names of flowers, animals, birds, trees, foods, or descriptive adjectives.
 The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones at its twenty-seventh Session held in 2000 in Muscat,)
Sultanate of Oman agreed in principle to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and
Arabian Sea.
 Eight countries India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Sri Lanka, and Thailand
participated in the panel and came up with a list of 64 names.
 The Panel member names are listed alphabetically country-wise. The names will be used sequentially
column-wise.
 For instance, the first name will start from the first row of column one and continue sequentially to the last
row in column eight. For example, Onil, Hibaru, Pyar, Baaz, and so on.
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Names of Indian Ocean Cyclones:

Color Coded Warning System for Cyclone Prone Areas:

 GREEN: The green color signifies everything is smooth and well i.e. "all is well" with no adverse weather
conditions.
 YELLOW: The yellow color code asks the guards to "be updated" to handle the bad weather that can last
for days, with a warning of affecting daily activities.
 ORANGE: The alert for color code orange indicates to "be prepared". It can be a warning of extreme
damage to communication disruptions that can lead to power cuts, and road and railway blockages. The
orange alert is also a sign of evacuation and keeping the basic necessities ready for families.
 RED: The red color is the highest level of warning that notifies the authorities to "take action". This is a
case in which there is a threat to life with the worst weather conditions.

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