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Countries with the Most Tropical Cyclones

Name the countries whose shores have been struck by the most tropical cyclones with wind-speeds greater than 65 knots since 1970.
"Cyclone" is a generic term that includes hurricanes and typhoons
Quiz by relessness
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Last updated: November 16, 2022
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First submittedMay 21, 2013
Times taken35,802
Average score70.0%
Rating4.47
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# Hits
Country
268
United States
230
China
176
Philippines
134
Mexico
133
Japan
# Hits
Country
79
Cuba
66
Australia
61
Bahamas
45
Vietnam
30
Madagascar
+5
Level 33
May 25, 2013
Technically cyclones only appear in the southern hemisphere. So the US, Cuba etc would've had 0 cyclones. In the northern hemisphere they're called hurricanes or tornados or whatever.
+24
Level 47
May 25, 2013
Technically cyclones can be found everywhere. Hurricanes are tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, and they are called typhoons in the Pacific and just called cyclones in the Indian.
+14
Level 84
Feb 16, 2017
Nope. "Tropical cyclone" is a generic term. In the Atlantic and Eastern/Central Pacific they're called hurricanes, and the in the Western Pacific they're called typhoons. Most tropical cyclones form in the northern hemisphere but, as you can see, Australia gets their fair share.
+2
Level 66
Jun 23, 2017
We absolutely get our fair share. Cyclone Debbie hit north Queensland just a few months ago and caused millions in damage. Cyclone Tracy was the probably the worst though. It hit Darwin on Christmas Eve in 1974 and literally tore it apart.
+19
Level 66
Jun 23, 2017
Tornadoes. Yeah, sure. Check yourself before you wreck yourself, buddy.
+7
Level 70
Jun 23, 2017
Yeah, tornados are completely different from a hurricane.
+5
Level 75
Dec 21, 2019
In my grandparents' generation (at least in my region of the US) tornadoes were commonly called cyclones. In the book, Wizard of Oz, the storm that hit Kansas was called a cyclone. Anyone remember the tall tale of Pecos Bill riding the cyclone in Texas? He rode on what I would call a tornado. It may not be correct to refer to a tornado as a cyclone, but it was quite common when I was young, and I still hear it today, as well as weather forecasters talking about mesocyclones forming as a part of tornadoes.
+1
Level 45
Dec 22, 2019
very true, it can be confusing to say cyclone in the midwest...
+1
Level 53
Mar 31, 2022
cyclones are just hurricanes
+1
Level 77
Dec 15, 2022
You’re all wrong. I looked it up and a cyclone is a large mat with large dots of varying colours.
+5
Level 88
Oct 26, 2019
Why not just say hurricane or typhoon or whatever? It's the same thing. The wind doesn't give 2 hoots whether it's tearing across an ocean English speaking humans call the Pacific or Atlantic. It's a thoroughly pointless exercise in pedantry.
+2
Level 82
Jan 8, 2023
at least from what I've seen, here in the US a tropical cyclone can also be a storm that does not have fast enough winds to be classified as a hurricane
+4
Level 76
Feb 16, 2017
Really surprised the South Pacific nations don't appear here. It would be interesting to see the actual number of cyclones as well as the ranking.
+2
Level ∞
Feb 17, 2017
Unfortunately the source data doesn't show the number for some reason.
+1
Level 86
Dec 1, 2018
Yeah that's weird, especially since they DO include numbers for the other chart on that page.
+5
Level 81
Feb 17, 2017
I guess if you have a country with a larger land mass then of course it has more chance of the cyclone going over it and therefore adding one to its total. Smaller island nations although maybe more prone geographically probably get missed more often than not.
+2
Level 77
Feb 18, 2017
Taiwan isn't that large.
+7
Level 59
Jun 23, 2017
It's still of very significant size when compared to the likes of Nauru, Tonga or Palau.
+3
Level 56
Jun 23, 2017
Out of the top 5 countries by area, only 2 show up here. Honestly, I too expected more smaller countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
+3
Level 63
Dec 15, 2022
Well, the other three (Brazil, Canada, Russia) are either too cold for many cyclones to hit them or their region (Brazil w the South Atlantic) is very inactive.
+3
Level 63
Jun 23, 2017
I am shocked that the Bahamas doesn't make the list. It seems to me that if the hurricane hits Cuba or the US, it is going to at least brush up against the Bahamas.
+1
Level 58
Jun 23, 2017
I looked into this and it seems most of the tropical storms and hurricanes approach the Bahamas via north or northwest. Hence, Florida will weaken many hurricanes into tropical storms for the Bahamas. If the quiz included tropical storms with hurricanes then the Bahamas would be almost equal to the US.
+1
Level 86
Dec 1, 2018
The Bahamas do make the "not just since 1970" list (click the source link in the description).
+2
Level 70
Jun 24, 2017
I had no idea you were talking about North America. Hurricanes are what they are called in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the US. So, I thought you were referring to the western Pacific or perhaps Indian. Confusing. Fixable.
+15
Level 47
Jun 24, 2017
""Cyclone" is a generic term that includes hurricanes and typhoons". If you can't be bothered to read the instructions I'm really not sure I can help you.
+1
Level 57
Jun 26, 2017
Any info on non-independent colonies, etc? Wondering about Bermuda in particular, although the smallness would likely exclude it from top 10.
+1
Level 79
Dec 22, 2019
Bermuda is now called a 'British Overseas Territory'.
+1
Level 51
Dec 21, 2019
I've never heard of a cyclone near Madagascar - except I've heard of them in Mozambique, the country on the opposite side of the Mozambique Strait, which is right next to Madagascar.
+2
Level 78
Dec 22, 2019
Interesting list but I would’ve thought for sure that Indonesia would’ve been on it. Also India and Bangladesh
+4
Level 84
Nov 16, 2022
You may be thinking of monsoons. India occasionally gets hit by a tropical cyclone, but Bangladesh is protected on one side by India and on the other side by Indochina. Most of the severe flooding and torrential rain that you hear about in India and, especially, Bangladesh, are monsoons.
+4
Level 79
Nov 19, 2022
This wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tropical_cyclones_in_Fiji lists 36 tropical cyclones which have hit Fiji since 1970, which would make it an inclusion in this quiz.

Given the source is the "Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory", I have doubts they are truly interested in properly counting events from the other side of the globe.

+1
Level 69
Dec 15, 2022
source says "However, it should be noted that some basins have longer histories of such activity and this might bias these counts. So the following is the ranking if we only look at storms since 1970, when world-wide satellite coverage became available." tbf
+4
Level 59
Dec 15, 2022
As soon as I saw the title, I knew there would be the Cyclone-Hurricane-Typoon debate

Was not expecting the tornadoes though..........

+2
Level 39
Dec 15, 2022
maybe the uk, france and netherlands shouldve been here because of their overseas territories(turks and caicos islands,martinique,curacao etc) are in thw caribbean which theyre most likely to get hurricanes and they have in the past
+1
Level 30
Dec 15, 2022
I was suprised to see Madagascar on that list
+1
Level 59
Mar 23, 2024
Very surprised to see Madagascar made the cut...