TYPHOON (Port. tufao, from Ar. Pers. tiifOn, tempest, hurricane, from tiiiiinidan, to roar, cry out ef. Gk. TvorJr, Typhon, Typhon (q.v.) ; also Chin. t'ai luny, great wind, For mosan Chin. tai hung, typhoon). The name ap plied to the hurricanes that visit the waters east of Asia. From a meteorological point of view the typhoon is a special ease of the so called cyclonic storm. Typhoons usually origi nate far to the east and nearer the equator than Manila; they move toward the west or west northwest, but gradually curve so that they often pass northward or northeastward along the coasts of China and Japan. Typhoons appear to be quite as severe on the average as the \Vest Indian hurricanes; the barometer falls even lower at the centre, and the rainfall is probably heavier. Knowledge of the laws of typhoons is now suf ficient to justify cautious predictions of their paths and the issuance of storm warnings to navigators. All the baguios and typhoons of the North Pacific Ocean have been classified as follows by Doberch, Algui•, and Bergholz: Group I occur between December and March; the storms originate between 5° N. and 12° N., and 145° E. and E.: move at first to ward the north-northwest : reach the vertices of their parabolic orbits in latitude 15°-19° N.
and then turn toward the north-northeast.
Group 2 occur in April and May or October and November; originate between 129° E. and 147° E. and N. and 12° N.; move toward the northwest ; have their vertices in latitude 10° 21°, and then move toward the northeast.
Group 3 occur between June and September; originate between 139° E. and 120° E. and 20° N. and 8° N., move at first toward the north west by north; have their vertices at N. and then turn to the northeast by east.
When typhoons reach the China Sea in the months of December-March they generally con tinue onward toward the east-northeast, and are lost in the interior of time country. Those that occur in the summer and spring months recurve much more frequently, attain higher latitudes, and are frequently destructive in Japan and ad jacent waters; occasionally these continue mov ing northeast until they reach Bering Sea or the Aleutian Islands. Full details of typhoons are published regularly by the meteorological offices of Hong Kong, Tokio, and :Manila, and their gen eral tracks, together with occasional special studies. are published on the Pilot Charts of the Pacific Ocean, published monthly by the United States Ilydrographie Office.