Hurricanes / Tropical Storms » All About Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, and Typhoons
What is a sub-tropical storm / cyclone?
A sub-tropical cyclone is a low-pressure system existing in the tropical or subtropical latitudes (anywhere from the equator to about 50°N) that has characteristics of both tropical cyclones and mid-latitude (or extratropical) cyclones. Therefore, many of these cyclones exist in a weak to moderate horizontal temperature gradient region (like mid-latitude cyclones), but also receive much of their energy from convective clouds (like tropical cyclones). Often, these storms have a radius of maximum winds which is farther out (on the order of 100-200 km [60-125 miles] from the center) than what is observed for purely "tropical" systems. Additionally, the maximum sustained winds for sub-tropical cyclones have not been observed to be stronger than about 33 m/s (64 kts, 74 mph)).
Many times these subtropical storms transform into true tropical cyclones. A recent example is the Atlantic basin's Hurricane Florence in November 1994 which began as a subtropical cyclone before becoming fully tropical. Note there has been at least one occurrence of tropical cyclones transforming into a subtropical storm (e.g. Atlantic basin storm 8 in 1973).
Subtropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin are classified by the maximum sustained surface winds:
- less than 18 m/s (34 kts, 39 mph) - "subtropical depression",
- greater than or equal to 18 m/s (34 kts, 39 mph) - "subtropical storm"
For more information see Penn State University's write up on the Subtropical Cyclones.
Last update: 2007-07-02 09:23
Author: Contributed by Chris Landsea
Revision: 1.1
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