Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons all refer to the same weather pattern. They are powerful phenomena that originate at the equator. In order to trigger the formation, the ocean waters must be at least 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Water then evaporates, forming clouds. If the air pressure is low, the clouds come together and begin rotating. The rotation is caused by the earth's spin. More and more clouds then get attracted to it, like a magnet. As the cyclone gains clouds, it begins to spin faster. At this point, the weather system can become a mature cyclone, hurricane or typhoon. Alternately, it could lose its speed and dissipate. Once the wind speeds reach 39 mph, it is considered either a cyclone, typhoon or hurricane.
Tornadoes are fast, spiraling air columns that appear because of severe thunderstorms. They are caused when speeding air keeps shifting directions as it goes higher into the atmosphere. Eventually, spinning tubes of air appear and thunderstorms form around them. Once the rotation becomes strong enough, a rotating cloud, called a wall cloud, develops. If downward-moving air mixes with air moving upward, it stretches a column of air and forms a tornado. Contrary to how they look, most tornadoes in fact begin from the ground up, rather than touching down from the sky.
Damage is an unfortunate reality from tropical storms. The most menacing aspect of hurricanes is the strong wind. For the most intense hurricanes, the air speed can reach over 155 mph. Their destructive power is very apparent when viewing the aftermath of a hurricane. The winds are capable of uprooting trees, flipping cars and knocking down buildings. A hurricane's intensity is measured on a category scale, category 1 being the weakest and category 5 being the strongest. The most recent example of a category 5 hurricane to hit the U.S. was Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Although tornadoes are smaller than hurricanes, they are still capable of being stronger than their larger counterparts. Tornadoes are measured with a system called the Fujita scale. Like with hurricanes, the scale ranks tornadoes from 1 to 5, with 5 being the strongest. Although 70 percent of tornadoes rate 1 on the scale, level 5's can reach wind speeds in excess of 200 mph.