the.com/tropical storm
A hurricane's awkward teenage phase — winds strong enough to ruin your umbrella, not your roof.
means A rotating tropical weather system with sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph — past a tropical depression, not yet a hurricane.
from 'Tropical' traces to Greek 'tropikos' ('of a turn'), from 'tropos' ('turn'), referring to the sun's turning points at the solstices that mark the tropical latitudes. 'Storm' comes from Old English 'storm,' a Germanic word for violent weather, related to German 'Sturm.' The phrase itself is modern meteorological classification language, part of a tiered system (depression, storm, hurricane) built as scientists learned to measure and rank wind speeds rather than just describe the weather's mood.
- wind range
- 39 to 73 mph, officially
- naming rule
- gets a human name at this stage
- power source
- warm ocean water, not cold fronts