Hurricanes form regularly in 7 oceanic regions
Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Do hurricanes occur in the Southern Hemisphere?
Yes.
Hurricanes — which are technically a kind of “tropical cyclone” — regularly form in any of seven oceanic regions, including a large swath of the Southern Hemisphere.
The regions, known as basins, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
Atlantic Basin — comprises the North Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Northeast Pacific Basin — extends from Mexico westward almost to the International Dateline.
Northwest Pacific Basin — extends from the International Dateline to Asia and includes the South China Sea.
North Indian Basin — comprises the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
Southwest Indian Basin — extends from Africa eastward to about 100 degrees east.
Southeast Indian/Australian Basin — runs from 100 degrees east to 142 degrees east.
Australian/Southwest Pacific Basin — extends from 142 degrees east to about 120 degrees west.
The storms carry different names depending on where they are — “hurricanes” in the Atlantic, “typhoons” in the North Pacific and “cyclones” in all of the other areas.
Outside the basin
In March 2004 a tropical cyclone formed off the coast of Brazil and intensified into a hurricane — the first such storm recorded in the South Atlantic.
The storm, named after the region of Brazil it struck, reached Category 1 strength and made landfall in the province of Santa Catarina, killing three people and causing $350 million in damage.
“Tropical cyclone development in this region is scarce due to the lack of favorable conditions, such as low shear or easterly waves coming off of Africa,” reads a 2015 post on a blog maintained by NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division.
“In this case, Catarina formed from a stationary cold-core low along a trough that remained stalled over warm waters until convection was able to establish a warm core. The cyclone then drifted westward and struck Santa Catarina province with 110 mph (180 km/hr) gusts.”
For more information, visit www.noaa.gov; noaahrd.wordpress.com.
