Hurricane, cyclone, typhoon: Here's the difference

Typhoon Kalmaegi has killed at least 114 people in the Philippines with even more missing and then hit Vietnam Friday. A second typhoon, Fong-Wong, is forecast to hit the Philippines around Sunday and strengthen to a major storm by that time.

- By SETH BORENSTEIN

RESIDENTS RETURN TO their damaged homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi (Typhoon Tino) caused devastation in communities along the Mananga River in Talisay City, Cebu province, central Philippines. Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP)

(AP)

Some facts about typhoons

Hurricane? Cyclone? Typhoon? They’ re all the same — officially, tropical cyclones. But they get different names in different parts of the world. Hurricane is used in the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, central and northeast Pacific. They are typhoons in the northwest Pacific. In the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, they are called cyclones.

Tropical cyclone is used in the southwest India Ocean; in the southwestern Pacific and southeastern India Ocean, they are severe tropical cyclones.

Strength

A storm gets a name and is considered a tropical storm at 63 kph. It becomes a hurricane, typhoon, tropical cyclone, or cyclone at 119 kph. There are five strength categories, depending on wind speed. The highest category is 5 and that’s above 249 kph. Australia has a different system for categorizing storm strength.

Kalmaegi is on the stronger side of typhoons, experts said. Its maximum winds in the Philippines reached 213 kph, including sustained winds on the ground of 150 kph.