Hurricane ,Typhoon or Willy-Willy?

Tuesday October 13, 2009

With all of the news reports coming out of the Philippines about Typhoon Parma I have received several phone calls asking me what is the difference between a typhoon and a hurricane. The answer is that there isn't much of a difference. They are both severe tropical systems with winds of greater than 74 mph. It really comes down to where the storm calls home. If the storm "lives" in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, or the eastern Pacific Ocean it is called a hurricane. However, should that storm decide to move across the International Dateline into the western Pacific it becomes a typhoon. If one of these severe storms forms around Australia it is called, I'm not making this up, a willy-willy. It seems dangerous to name a violent weather system willy-willy. I can't imagine someone shouting, "A willy-willy is on the way!" Honestly, would you be afraid? I think I would just imagine that an odd looking cat was approaching.

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