Slang

Actually, it has to do with *our* slang - it was an equivalent used for explanation.

Re: 53122

You make a vaild point about Americans using slang for southern hemisphere weather. However the scene im refering to was a meteroligist talking to other meteroligists and i serriously doubt that these people at the forefront of their field would make such a mistake.

ACTUAL definitions:

Your "actually defined meteorological definition" is incorrect. A few moments on www.dictionary.com yielded the following information from various references: \r\rCyclone: A rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low-pressure center; circling counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern. Hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes are ALL cyclones. \r\rHurricane: A cyclone occuring in the Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Pacific Ocean. \r\rTyphoon: A cyclone occuring in the Indian Ocean or the western Pacific Ocean. \r\r\rPlease note that whether any of these occur in the north or south hemishpere has NO bearing on the name used. Since Australia straddles the western Pacific and the Indian oceans, the correct meteorological term for a cyclone in that region is "typhoon", although the generic "cyclone" could also be used. The nitpicker is wrong and this nitpick should be refuted.

No refute

The nitpick is correct, at least technically speaking, and should not be refuted. An Australian meteorologist would not use the term "typhoon" with reference to an Australian cyclone. Other meteorologists would presumably know that.

Weather.com

Here is a more thorough definition of "typhoon" from the weather channel website (weather.com) ..they knwo a bit more about weather than dictionary.com. Note the use of NORTH pacific and NORTH atlantic\r\rTYPHOON \rThe name for a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 74 miles per hour (65 knots) or greater in the western North Pacific Ocean. This same tropical cyclone is known as a hurricane in the eastern North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean, and as a cyclone in the Indian Ocean. \r

Even more complicated...

From the NOAA website: "Once the tropical cyclone reaches winds of at least 17 m/s they are typically called a "tropical storm" and assigned a name. If winds reach 33 m/s (64 kt, 74 mph)), then they are called: a "hurricane" (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E); a "typhoon" (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline); a "severe tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E); a "severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean); and a "tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Indian Ocean)." The nitpick appears to be quite correct. But judging from the information quoted above, it's no wonder various sources seem confused about which name goes where. Three separate names for a tropical cyclone in just the Indian ocean alone seems a bit excessive...

The nitpick should stand but be qualified.

The generic name for the meteorological phenomenon in question is "tropical cyclone" so 43395 was wrong when he asserted:\r\r"Note: this is an actually defined meteorological condition not just local slang..."\r\rThe names are assigned somewhat arbitrarily and are bastardized versions of local names for the storms (consider typhoon and taifun). Locations where no local name exists were simply given the generic name cyclone. The only tropical cyclone ever observed in the sub-equatorial Atlantic Ocean was named "Cyclone Catarina" (incidentally, if you do a search on "cyclone catarina" you will find statements like "Cyclone Catarina" was the first hurricane observed...)\r\rThe nitpick is correct in that even if a meteorologist was unsure of nomenclature for a specific region he would use the generic "tropical cyclone".