About Lesson
C.8. Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move over coastal areas and move over to the coastal areas bringing about large-scale destruction caused by violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges.
Conditions:
- Large sea surface with a temperature higher than 270 C
- Presence of the Coriolis force
- Small variations in the vertical wind speed
- A pre-existing weak-low-pressure area or low-level cyclonic circulation
- Upper divergence above the sea level system
A mature tropical cyclone is characterized by the strong spirally circulating wind around the centre, called the Eye.
The Cyclone creates storm surges and they inundate the coastal lowlands. The storm peters out on the land.