Explain the characteristics and spatial distribution of Hurricane/Typhoons at least two specific examples. [10 marks]

Hurricanes and typhoons are both of the same type of hazard. In terms of their characteristics they differ  in spatial distribution in the world. Typhoon is the name used for tropical storms that occur in the western pacific ocean. Whereas a Hurricane occurs in the North Atlantic and eastern Pacific. Both of these storms or "cyclones" often form in areas of warm water in both the atlantic and pacific ocean. They rotate counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern. Compares to hurricanes, typhoons occur much more often in a year at an average of 25 to 30 per year compared to 10 to 15 for hurricanes. These hazards are caused by the exchanges in temperature of the cool temperature of the air and the warm temperature of the water. The larger the difference between the two temperatures, the larger the hazard will become. These can be measured into five different levels of intensity. The different levels depend of the different speeds of the hurricane or typhoon. Category one moves at an average of 33 to 42 meters per second, category two moves at 43 to 49 meters per second, category 3 moves at 50 to 59 meters per second, category 4 moves from 58 to 70 meters per second, and category 5 has winds greater than 79 meters per second. Some characteristics that these hazards have include heavy winds, rain, and floods.
Hurricane Katrina is an example of a hurricane that occurred in the east coast of the US. It was one of the most destructive tropical storms to occur in the country. It is called a hurricane because it formed north atlantic ocean. It was formed and strengthened due to the warm water from the Gulf of Mexico and reached up to a category 5. The strongest for hurricanes. It caused severe damage to property and killed many people due to the flooding from intense rainfall that was brought inland by the hurricane. One famous typhoon which had great affect on the country is typhoon Haiyan. Typhoon Haiyan is 30^th typhoon formed in North-West Pacific Ocean which arrived to the central part of the Philippine. Visayas. This typhoon was categorized in category 5 which is called the Saffir-Sampson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS). The maximum wind speed of this typhoon was 314km/hr, and killed about ten thousand people and thirty thousand people became homeless. 
Both are essentially the same hazard. They have different levels of intensity, and mainly differ only in the special distribution.