What is the difference between a tornado and a hurricane?

Both tornadoes and hurricanes are characterized by extremely strong horizontal winds that swirl around their center and by a ring of strong upward motion surrounding downward motion in their center. In both tornadoes and hurricanes, the tangential wind speed far exceeds the speed of radial inflow or of vertical motion.

Hurricanes always and tornadoes usually rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. The Earth's rotation determines this direction for the storms' rotation in each hemisphere. Local winds are sometimes able to cause a tornado to form that spins in the opposite direction from the typical direction for that hemisphere.

The most obvious difference between a tornado and hurricane is that a hurricane's horizontal scale is about a thousand times larger than a tornado. In addition, hurricanes and tornadoes form under different circumstances and have different impacts on the atmosphere.

Tornadoes are small-scale circulations, that are rarely more than a few hundred feet across when they touch the ground. Most tornadoes grow out of severe thunderstorms that develop in the high wind-shear environment of the United States Central Plains during spring and early summer.  Many tornadoes form when the large-scale wind flow leads to a violent clash between moist, warm air traveling north from the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry, continental air coming from the United States Northwest. Tornadoes can also form in many other locations and from other forcing factors. For example, a hurricane making landfall may trigger many tornadoes to form.

Tornado wind speeds may reach 100 to 300 mph and cause havoc on the ground, but tornadoes typically last only a few minutes and rarely travel more than 10 or 20 miles along the ground. Tornadoes have little impact on storms that spawn them or collectively on the global circulation of the atmosphere.

Hurricanes, on the other hand, are large-scale circulations that are 60 to over 1,000 miles across. Hurricanes form near the Equator, generally between 5 and 20 degrees latitude, but never right on the Equator. Hurricanes always form over the warm waters of the tropical oceans and generally where the sea-surface temperature exceeds 26.5°C (76°F).

A hurricane may travel thousands of miles and persist over several days or weeks. During its lifetime, a hurricane will transport a significant amount of heat up from the ocean surface and into the upper troposphere or even lower stratosphere. Even though hurricanes form only sporadically, they do affect the global atmosphere's circulation in measurable ways, although this is still an active area of research.

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2002

GPM Views Hurricane Lane Approaching Hawaii

View Fullscreen in STORM Event Viewer Direct strikes on Hawaii by tropical cyclones are relatively rare, but Hurricane Lane is poised to buck that trend if the models are to be believed. At the time of this overflight, Lane had maximum sustained winds of 130 knots and featured a symmetrical eye in the GMI data with intense precipitation rates on both east and west sides of the tight circulation. Its impacts are likely to start with flooding, especially on the island of Hawaii. High surf and strong winds will also have an impact, although the locations of maximum intensity will be determined by

GPM Views "Truck-Tire" Eyewall of Typhoon Soulik

View Fullscreen in STORM Event Viewer Avoiding Kyushu, Typhoon Soulik instead barrelled toward the Northern Ryukyu islands, with the 'truck-tire' eyewall impacting Amami (in the south) and Yakushima (in the north) Islands in this overflight. It featured winds approaching 100 knots as it moved northwestward. Soulik is expected to recurve toward the western coast of Korea, where it is likely to have devastating impacts to the majority of the peninsula depending on its ability to maintain intensity.

Powerful Hurricane Lane Probed By GPM Satellite

Hurricane LANE had moved westward into the central Pacific Ocean far southeast of the Hawaiian islands when the GPM core observatory satellite passed above on August 19, 2018 at 1643 UTC. LANE had intensified and had maximum sustained winds reaching about 105 kts (~ 121 mph) at that time. This made it a category three on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. The GPM satellite's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments provided highly accurate information about precipitation within the hurricane. GPM's GMI revealed rainfall coverage and GPM's radar (DPR

Intensifying Hurricane Lane Examined by GPM Satellite

View fullscreen in STORM Event Viewer Heavy rainfall and towering cloud heights were the findings when Hurricane Lane was scanned by the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite on Aug. 17. Lane strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. GPM passed above Lane in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on Aug. 17, 2018, at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 UTC). Lane was intensifying and data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments revealed the location of its forming eye wall. Very heavy

Subtropical Depression Five Observed By GPM

Subtropical Depression FIVE formed in the central Atlantic Ocean early today. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) classified it as subtropical. It is moving over warm ocean waters and has low vertical wind shear aloft so the system is predicted to slightly intensify. The GPM core observatory satellite passed above the western side of newly formed Subtropical Depression FIVE on August 15, 2018 at 1046 UTC. The GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments revealed that most of the rainfall within the subtropical depression was outside the middle of the