cyclone
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Satellites provide invaluable information about the cloud and wind patterns of entire weather systems. This satellite picture, taken in 1969, shows a cyclonic storm, or hurricane, off Hawaii. Tropical cyclones begin in the hot, moist air over tropical oceans. As an area of very low pressure develops, air is sucked in, creating a violent storm of spiralling winds.
Alternative name for a depression, an area of low atmospheric pressure with winds blowing in an anticlockwise direction in the northern hemisphere and in a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. A severe cyclone that forms in the tropics is called a tropical cyclone or hurricane.
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