Hurricanes vs Typhoons vs Cyclones: How Tropical Storms Are Classified

A Storm That Changed Names Mid-Ocean

On October 5, 2026, a tropical cyclone travelling across the Pacific crossed the International Date Line and was immediately reclassified by the Japan Meteorological Agency from Hurricane Nolo to Typhoon Nolo, NBC News reported. At the time of the switch the storm's sustained winds had eased from 115 mph as a Category 3 hurricane to about 100 mph, but the name change itself had nothing to do with that drop in strength — it was triggered solely by the storm moving from the central/eastern Pacific basin into the northwest Pacific basin.

The episode is a clean illustration of a point meteorologists make constantly: hurricane, typhoon and cyclone are not three different kinds of storm. They are regional labels attached to the same phenomenon depending on which ocean basin it happens to be sitting in.

Same Phenomenon, Different Regional Names

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a tropical cyclone is the generic scientific term for an organized, rotating system of thunderstorms that forms over warm tropical or subtropical waters with a closed low-level circulation. Once its maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph (119 km/h, or 64 knots), NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) says the system earns a region-specific name rather than a new scientific category.

Per AOML's hurricane research division, the main regional terms break down as follows: 'hurricane' is used in the North Atlantic and in the eastern/central North Pacific; 'typhoon' is used in the northwest Pacific, west of the International Date Line; and 'tropical cyclone' — sometimes with added severity words that vary further by sub-region — is the generic term used across the South Pacific and Indian Ocean regardless of the storm's wind speed.

Below that 74 mph threshold, NOAA's Ocean Service notes the same system is called a tropical depression (under 39 mph sustained winds) or a tropical storm (39 mph and above), again using identical criteria worldwide before any regional name is applied.

How the Intensity Scales Compare

Once a storm crosses the naming threshold, different national weather agencies grade its strength on their own numbered or worded scales. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) uses the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, rating hurricanes from Category 1 (74–95 mph) to Category 5 (157 mph or higher), with Categories 3 through 5 termed 'major hurricanes.' The NHC stresses this scale measures wind damage potential only and does not account for storm surge, rainfall flooding or tornadoes.

Japan's Meteorological Agency, which runs the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) Tokyo - Typhoon Center for Asia and the western North Pacific, grades storms on a different ladder — Tropical Storm, Severe Tropical Storm, Typhoon, Very Strong Typhoon and Violent Typhoon — using a 10-minute wind average rather than the one-minute average behind the Saffir-Simpson scale, according to Japan's National Institute of Informatics Digital Typhoon archive, which documents JMA's operational standard. That averaging difference alone can make the same storm look stronger or weaker depending on which agency's bulletin is read.

India's Meteorological Department, responsible for the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, uses its own ladder running from Cyclonic Storm through Severe Cyclonic Storm and Very Severe Cyclonic Storm up to Super Cyclonic Storm, reserved for systems with sustained winds of 222 km/h (120 knots) or higher, per a Free Press Journal breakdown of the IMD's published criteria. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, cited in AOML's own FAQ, ranks storms in its region from Category 1 to Category 5, with Category 5 defined as mean winds above 200 km/h and gusts exceeding 279 km/h.

Who Decides the Names — and Why the System Matters

Naming of individual storms is coordinated globally by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which works with regional meteorological bodies — among them the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) Nadi and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres covering Australia, Port Moresby and Jakarta, as well as RSMC Tokyo for the northwest Pacific. Each body maintains a pre-approved rotating list of names submitted by national meteorological services, selected for short length, easy pronunciation and appropriateness across the languages of the region; storms are never named after individual people, the WMO says.

The NHC explains that its own Atlantic list cycles through six rotating sets of 21 names every six years, while its eastern North Pacific list uses 24 names per rotation; a name is permanently retired if the storm it belonged to was unusually deadly or costly, so reusing it later would be considered insensitive.

That communication goal is also the practical reason the regional terminology persists instead of a single global word. The WMO's naming guidance notes that locally familiar terms and names help communities and emergency responders act quickly, support coordination among meteorologists and media, and preserve historical records used in storm research — even though, scientifically, a 'hurricane,' a 'typhoon' and a 'cyclone' describe the identical process of a warm-core, low-pressure storm system drawing energy from tropical ocean heat.