Global Weather & Climate Center
  • Home
  • About
    • GWCC Is
    • Where in the World is GWCC?
    • Contact Us
  • Global Regions
    • Africa
    • Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea
    • Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean
    • Central and South America
    • Europe
    • North America
    • Indian Ocean and Asia
    • Polar Regions
    • South Pacific Ocean and Australia
    • Western Pacific Ocean
  • Weather
    • Applied Meteorology >
      • Air Quality
      • Aviation
      • Droughts
      • Fire Weather
      • Flooding
      • Geosciences
      • Global Environmental Topics
      • Weather Observations
    • Weather Education
    • Weather History
    • Weather Research
    • Weather Safety and Preparedness
    • Severe Weather
    • Social Sciences
    • Space Weather
    • Tropical Cyclones
    • Weather and Health
    • Winter Weather
  • Climate
  • GWCC Global Imagery Archive
  • GWCC Window to the World
    • GOES-16 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
    • GOES-16 ABI Channel Description and Examples
    • GOES-16 ABI Satellite Products
    • GOES-17 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
    • Himawari-8 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
    • Meteosat-11 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
  • Kids Corner
    • Kindergarten to 5th Grade
    • 6th to 12th grade
    • Fun Facts & Weather Trivia
    • GWCC Weather Radar Education
    • GWCC Wheel of Science

Tropical Cyclone Topics

What are the life cycles of a tropical system?

9/12/2019

0 Comments

 
There are many stages to a tropical system and it’s important to know the distinction between each one, especially as the peak of hurricane season is upon us. Meteorologists have come up with four different stages of a tropical system. They include tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, and hurricane. All have their own criteria and will be briefly described below.
 
The first stage is the tropical disturbance stage. During this stage, water vapor from the warm oceans condense to form clouds. The warmer the water, the more water vapor and more vertical motion there is for condensation to occur. As condensation occurs, heat is released into the air attributing to more upward motion. Convection will continue to form more clouds, and eventually a cluster of thunderstorms.
 
The second stage is the tropical depression stage. As the thunderstorms continue to grow, the air at the top of the cloud column starts to get colder. This creates more instability since the air parcels that are rising into the storm are warmer than their environment. Deep convection starts to occur at this stage. At some point, the storm will have one or two closed isobars (lines of equal pressure), indicating further intensification. Winds will be stronger and more sustained, but will not exceed 38 mph. The storm, at this point, is still cold core, meaning that the center of the storm is colder than the rest of it.
 
The third stage is when the system transitions into a tropical storm. During this stage, one-minute sustained wind speeds of 39-73 mph are reached. The eye becomes even more pronounced and the circulation is more noticeable. On a weather map, there will be several closed isobars. This is also when latent heat (energy released to form condensation) that is released becomes the main driver for intensification. At this point, it becomes a warm-core system as the air in the center of the storm is warmer than the rest of it. The image below shows the difference between a tropical depression (cold core) and a tropical storm/hurricane (warm core). Tropical storms produce very heavy rainfall and are associated with damaging winds. 

Picture
Courtesy: NOAA
The final stage is when the storm transitions into a hurricane. This occurs when the sustained winds reach at least 74 mph. At this point, the eye wall starts to take shape as air in the center is descending to the surface. This subsidence makes it hard for clouds to form. The eye can vary from 2-30 miles in diameter, with stronger storms usually having smaller eyes. Hurricanes can cause a lot of destruction, not only with wind, but also with storm surge and flooding, as well. The diagram below shows the different categories of a hurricane and what type of damage each one can produce.
Picture
Courtesy: NOAA

To learn more about other tropical cyclone topics, be sure to click here!

©2019 Meteorologist Corey Clay
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2022
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016


    RSS Feed

© 2022, Global Weather and Climate Center
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
​Webmaster - Stephen Piechowski
  • Home
  • About
    • GWCC Is
    • Where in the World is GWCC?
    • Contact Us
  • Global Regions
    • Africa
    • Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea
    • Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean
    • Central and South America
    • Europe
    • North America
    • Indian Ocean and Asia
    • Polar Regions
    • South Pacific Ocean and Australia
    • Western Pacific Ocean
  • Weather
    • Applied Meteorology >
      • Air Quality
      • Aviation
      • Droughts
      • Fire Weather
      • Flooding
      • Geosciences
      • Global Environmental Topics
      • Weather Observations
    • Weather Education
    • Weather History
    • Weather Research
    • Weather Safety and Preparedness
    • Severe Weather
    • Social Sciences
    • Space Weather
    • Tropical Cyclones
    • Weather and Health
    • Winter Weather
  • Climate
  • GWCC Global Imagery Archive
  • GWCC Window to the World
    • GOES-16 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
    • GOES-16 ABI Channel Description and Examples
    • GOES-16 ABI Satellite Products
    • GOES-17 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
    • Himawari-8 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
    • Meteosat-11 Live Satellite Imagery Portal
  • Kids Corner
    • Kindergarten to 5th Grade
    • 6th to 12th grade
    • Fun Facts & Weather Trivia
    • GWCC Weather Radar Education
    • GWCC Wheel of Science