Kristen's Classroom: What is a potential tropical cyclone?

AUSTIN (KXAN) - We've had to use the term a couple of times since the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, but what exactly is a potential tropical cyclone.

Since 2017, the National Hurricane Center started using the term 'potential tropical cyclone' to define a system that is not yet a tropical storm, but has the potential to bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to land within 48 hours. This allows the NHC to start issuing watches and warnings despite the storm not having fully formed yet.

The term is usually followed by a number that is assigned based on how many storms have already formed in the basin.

Cyclone vs Hurricane

Different terms are used for tropical systems depending on what ocean basin they're in. For example, the Atlantic basin uses tropical storms and hurricanes. The Western Pacific describes tropical systems as typhoons. Storms in the Indian Ocean are known as cyclones.

However, the umbrella term for all warm-cored tropical systems is cyclones.

If you have a topic you’d like Kristen to discuss, email her at Kristen.Currie@KXAN.com.