Hurricanes occur over warm tropical oceans in specific belts on either side of the equator, mainly between about 5° and 30° latitude in both hemispheres.

Main hurricane regions

  • Atlantic basin : Includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, affecting areas like the Caribbean, eastern Mexico, the eastern and Gulf coasts of the United States, Bermuda, and eastern Canada.
  • Eastern North Pacific: Just off the west coast of Mexico and Central America; storms often move out over the open Pacific but can hit western Mexico, Baja California, and occasionally Hawaii.
  • Northwest Pacific (typhoons): The most active region, where the same type of storm is called a typhoon , impacting the Philippines, Guam, China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan.
  • North Indian Ocean: Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, affecting India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, and surrounding coasts.
  • South Indian and South Pacific: Near Madagascar, eastern Africa, northwest and northeast Australia, and South Pacific islands; here they are usually called tropical cyclones.

Where they do not form

  • Very close to the equator (around 0°–5° latitude) because the Coriolis force there is too weak to give the storm the needed spin.
  • Over land or cold water, because hurricanes need large areas of warm ocean to supply energy.

Names vs. locations

  • Hurricanes : Atlantic and eastern/central North Pacific.
  • Typhoons : Northwest Pacific.
  • Tropical cyclones : Indian Ocean and South Pacific basins.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.