Cyclone And Thunderstorm : Types, Causes and Effects

Cyclone and thunderstorm are natural atmospheric phenomena. These are associated with intense weather conditions. These conditions are characterized by strong winds, heavy rainfall, and different atmospheric disturbances. However, they differ in their scale, formation, and specific characteristics. In this article, today we will discuss the cyclone and thunderstorms in detail.

What Is Cyclone?

Cyclones are violent, powerful, and potentially destructive ocean storms. These storms are usually raised on a large water body and accompanied by strong winds and, heavy rains. At the time of the creation of a cyclone, the water body spins around an area where the pressure is comparatively low.

Causes Of Cyclone Formation

Formation of cyclones usually happens due to a combination of various factors and processes. Let’s discuss.

• Cyclones form over warm ocean waters near the equator.
• The cyclone mainly forms due to low atmospheric pressure.
• When the warm and moist air rises gradually from the ocean surface, it creates a low pressure zone.
• Air moves into this low pressure zone from higher pressure zone to create balance.
• If the wind gets strong enough, it becomes a tropical depression. As it gets stronger, the depression can turn into a tropical storm. It is the indication of a cyclone formation.
• The cool air warms up again and goes up and the cycle continues.
• As the warm air goes upward, it cools down again and form the clouds.
• Over time, the whole system intensifies and eventually develop an eye in the center.
• This eye is a low pressure centre where high pressure air flows in constantly. This weather condition is known as cyclone.

Factor Affects The Formation Of Cyclone

There are so many factors those contributes in the formation of cyclone.

• Factors like wind speed, direction, temperature, and humidity majorly contributes to the development process of a cyclone.
• The centre are or the eye of a cyclone, is a calm and cloudless area. In this area the wind speed is relatively weak.
• Atmosphere’s instability is an another factor. The Coriolis force helps create a low-pressure area in the region.
• Increasing temperature at the sea surface.
• Cyclones are more likely to form in those region where moisture is present in the air excessively. Particularly, in the lower to middle parts of the troposphere.

How Cyclone Are Formed?

In this flowchart we are going to learn about the complete cycle of cyclone formation. These steps will give you a compact look about the cyclone formation in a simplified way.

Warm Ocean Surface (typically at least 26.5°C)

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Evaporation

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Rising Warm Air

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Low Pressure System

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Coriolis Effect

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Formation of a Tropical Depression

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Formation of a Tropical Storm

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Eye Formation

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Cyclone Formation

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Landfall or Dissipation

Types Of Cyclone

There are different types of cyclone based on their location and intensity. Majorly there are four types of cyclones;

1. Tropical Cyclone
2. Polar Cyclone
3. Meso Cyclone
4. Extratropical Cyclone

Tropical Cyclone	It occurs over the tropical oceans. Hurricanes Occurs generally in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific regions. Typhoons occurs generally in the Northwest Pacific region.
Polar Cyclone	Polar cyclones are generally known as the “Arctic hurricane”. These types of cyclones generally occurs in the Northern Hemisphere and develop in less than 24 hours.
Meso Cyclone	Meso cyclones are the strongest thunderstroms till date. These cyclones form when warm air goes upwards and interacts with cold air to create a rotating column. The rotation in a mesocyclone is typically larger than other thunderstroms.
Extratropical Cyclone	Extratropical cyclones generally forms in the middle latitudes and the wind of these cyclone is relatively weak. These cylones redistributs heat and moisture in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Destruction Caused By Cyclones

Cyclones are powerful natural events that bring widespread destruction. Here are some listed below:

• Cyclone can cause the collapse of trees and buildings. It also results lot of casualties.
• It can lead to flooding.
• The low pressure area in the cyclone’s eye lifts the water surface, which forms a wall of water that moves toward the shore.
• Cyclones may bring prolonged heavy rains, causing floods and substantial damage.
• Floodwaters from cyclones can spread water-borne diseases.
• Cyclones can mess up transportation by blocking roads and railroads.
• They can also cause trouble for communication networks.

Cyclone Warning System In India

There are some cyclone warining systems in India. Like Area Cyclone Warning Centres, Cyclone Warning Centre and National Cyclone Warning Centre, Etc.

What Is Thunderstrom?

A thunderstorm is known as electrical storm. Presence of lightning and thunder is very common in thunderstrom. These storms bring various weather conditions, including strong winds, heavy rainfall, and sometimes even snowfall and hail, etc.

Thunderstorms

How Thunderstrom Are Formed?

Thunderstrom forms due to a combination of various factors and processes. Lets discuss.

• Cumulonimbus Cloud are really important to form thunderstroms.
• These clouds can form at heights over 20 kilometers due to the upward movement of warm and moist air.
• The rising air reaches to its dew point temperature, forming water droplets or ice.
• Reduction of local pressure happens within the thunderstorm cell during this process.
• Precipitation falls a long distance through the clouds before reaching the Earth’s surface.
• Larger droplets form when smaller ones collide during the descent.

Stages Of Thunderstrom

There are three major stages of thunderstrom as mentioned below:

1. Cumulus Stage
2. Mature Stage
3. Dissipating Stage

Cumulus Stage	During the day, the Sun heats up the Earth’s surface. It leads to an updraft phenomenon where warm air rises because it is lighter than cool air. As this warm air ascends and encounters moist air, it condenses, giving rise to the formation of cumulus clouds. The process of continuous cloud growth persists as long as the warm air beneath them continues to rise. This interplay of heating, updraft, and cloud formation is a dynamic aspect of Earth’s atmospheric processes.
Mature Stage	As Cumulus Clouds grow, the water inside those clouds gets bigger and heavier. When the cloud becomes too large, raindrops start falling through it because the rising air can’t hold them up anymore. As rain falls, cool dry air enters the cloud, causing a downdraft – when cool air descends because it’s heavier than warm air. This downdraft pulls heavy water down, resulting in rain.
Dissipating Stage	Thunderstorms dissipate after about 30 minutes, a process where downdrafts take over the updrafts in the cloud. This shift stops the formation of cloud droplets because the warm moist air can’t rise anymore. As the cloud vanishes from top to bottom, the storm fades away. Regular thunderstorms go through this entire process in about 1 hour, but for larger Supercell, the dissipation process might take several hours.

Types Of Thunderstroms

Here we have mentioned three different types of thunderstorms. Let’s discuss in details.

Single Cell Thunderstorms	It is the smallest and simplest type of thunderstrom. Single cell thunderstorms are typically short lived and not severe in nature. They are characterized by a straightforward structure involving a single updraft and downdraft.
Multi Cell Thunderstorms	Multi cell thunderstorms consisting with a group of cells at various developmental stages. It possess the capacity to generate more severe weather conditions. This encompasses heavy rain, hail, and strong winds, where the development of individual cells can impact and influence one another.
Super – cell Thunderstorms	They are the strongest and most dangerous thunderstrom. They are different because severe weather conditions. These thunderstroms lasts longer. Supercell have a bigger impact than other types of thunderstorms.

Difference Between Cyclone And Thunderstorm

Based on the scale, formation, and different characteristics, there are so many differences between cyclones and thunderstorms.

A cyclone is a large scale meteorological phenomenon that is characterized by different parameters. The low pressure and wind patterns are the most important for cyclone formation. Large water bodies like oceans are the ideal place for cyclone formation. The Pacific Ocean is the place that generates the greatest number of cyclones each year. Every cyclone has an eye. It is a strong and well defined center where wind speed is really high. When cyclones make landfall, they cause so many damage including the life loss.

On the other side, a thunderstorm is a local atmosphere disturbance that brings various weather conditions, including lighting, thunder, strong winds, heavy rainfall, etc. Thunderstorm occurs when warm moist air rises rapidly and travels upwards to create cumulus clouds. As soon as the air cools down, it develops into the storm. Thunderstorms can happen anywhere in the world at any time of the year. It also comes with different bad conditions like, tornadoes and flash floods. Thunderstorms comes for some short period which lasts from a few hours to a day. There are some major difference between these two. In this table we are going to discuss the major points.

Cyclone	Thunderstorm
Cyclone is a large scale weather system.	Thunderstroms are the local atmosphere disturbance.
It forms over warm large water bodies majorly, over ocean waters.	It develops in unstable atmospheric conditions.
Mostly occurs in the tropical regions.	Can occur in various locations.
Heavy rainfall is common.	Heavy rainfall and lightning.
Can last for several days.	Lasting from a few hours to a day.

FAQs on Cyclone And Thunderstorm

What is the difference between cyclone and thunderstrom?

Thunderstorms are the local atmospheric disturbances where cyclones are violent and potentially destructive ocean storms.

What is the main reason behind cyclone?

The rapid rise of warm and moist air over warm ocean waters.

Which was the strongest cyclone faced by India?

Bhola was the strongest cyclone faced by India in 1970.