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.

Extreme Weather News

Jump to a Year

2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008

2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

2002

Deadly Storms Hit Egypt

Last week severe storms hit Upper Egypt and areas along the Red Sea coast on October 26 and 27, 2016. Egypt normally receives relatively little rain and the heaviest rainfall usually occurs along the Mediterranean coast. Heavy rainfall from intense storms led to flooding in parts of Egypt including the Sohag and Bani Suef in Upper Egypt, the Southern Sinai and the Red Sea. At least 26 deaths and 72 injuries were attributed to the storms. The GPM core observatory satellite routinely passes above that area with a very informative pass occurring on October 27, 2016 at 0541 UTC. Data collected by

Typhoon Haima Hits China After Devastating The Northern Philippines

After Haima's caused extensive destruction and at least 13 deaths in the northern Philippines the typhoon traveled across the South China Sea to batter Hong Kong and mainland China. Heavy rain and gusty winds accompanied Haima as the typhoon passed to the east of Hong Kong. Operations at Hong Kong's international airport were nearly stopped by the typhoon. At least one person was reported killed in Hong Kong. Haima made landfall in China 110 km (68 miles) east of Hong Kong at about 0400 UTC (noon CST). Haima's winds were decreasing and the typhoon was the equivalent of a category one hurricane

GPM Measures Extreme Rainfall With Typhoons Sarika and Haima

Two powerful typhoons have hit the Philippines in less than a week. The first was Typhoon Sarika (known as Karen in the Philippines) that formed east of the Philippines on October 12, 2016. Sarika intensified and had peak sustained winds of 115 kts (132 mph). This wind speed made it the equivalent of a category four on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Sarika made landfall in the Philippines on Sunday in the northern province of Aurora on the island of Luzon. Three people were killed as Sarika pounded the Philippines with heavy winds and flooding rainfall. After hitting the Philippines

GPM Looks at Rainfall in Remnants of Songda Over Pacific NW

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite saw heavy rain with rates of around 50 mm/hr (~2 inches/hr shown in dark red) in the front that absorbed the remnants of former northwestern Pacific Ocean Typhoon Songda. These images were created from data taken on Saturday, Oct. 15 as the front was affecting the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The rain is depicted in red and green areas, indicating heavy, moderate and light rain, respectively. Images produced by Jacob Reed (Telophase/NASA GSFC) and caption by Rob Gutro (GSFC)

Hurricane Nicole Moving Over Cold North Atlantic

Hurricane Nicole has now been active for almost two weeks. Nicole was still a hurricane with winds of about 70 kts (81 mph) when the GPM core observatory satellite flew over on October 17, 2016 at 0436 UTC (2:36 am EDT). The GPM satellite had a good look at the rainfall in Nicole's large ragged eye. GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) swath sliced through the center of Nicole's eye and found some very heavy rainfall. A few strong storms in the southern side of the eye were dropping rain at a rate of over 113 mm (4.4 inches) per hour. GPM's radar (DPR KU band) data collected with