Hurricanes, not.

Once again we are seeing major storms through the UK. Winds gusting to 80 knots and more are hammering the country. Roof tiles are flying off, trees are falling, the coastline is being assaulted by massive waves and, tragically, a couple of people have died as a result.

This means, of course, that the media can report we are being hit by HURRICANES!
Well, we might have wind speeds of more than 64 knots, one of the criteria used to define a hurricane, but we aren’t having hurricanes. A hurricane is, by definition, a tropical revolving storm and we aren’t in the tropics.

I don't think we need to sex up these large extra-tropical cyclones by calling them hurricanes. Our storm systems are powerful enough in their own right, as we’re seeing.

Hurricanes (or typhoons or tropical cyclones depending on where you are in the tropics) are quite different to extra-tropical storms. For a start they don't have associated fronts. They have a warm core; they develop over warm water. Our storms have a cold core; they form over cold water. Hurricanes are very symmetrical and have a calm, well defined, eye. They break up quickly when encountering cold water or land.

Hurricanes are more powerful, generally, but smaller in size than extra-tropical storms.

It isn't just wind speed that defines a hurricane.