Tropical cyclones have always been part of the South-West Indian Ocean inhabitants daily life.
In the 18th century, in his famous novel Paul and Virginie, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, drawing his inspiration from his own experience, describes the arrival of a hurricane in Mauritius Island:
"At about nine in the morning, we heard from the sea a dreadful noise, as if water torrents together with thunders have rolled in the mountains. Everybody shouted: 'here comes the hurricane'!

Due to their geographical location, all countries of the area may have to face a tropical cyclone threat to a more or less severe extent. These atmospheric perturbations, which can lead to extreme damage, are a real danger for the inhabited lands.

But what is a tropical cyclone? How does it form? What steers its track? Here are some of the questions this section tries to answer.

The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) can help answer some of the questions that you may have about the characteristics of these catastrophic storms, and how they are monitored and forecasted. It is as far as possible adapted to the southern hemisphere and provides references for those that would like additional, detailed information.

Thanks to: Sim Aberson, Jack Beven, Gary Padgett, Tom Berg, Julian Heming,Gary Gray, Frank Woodcock, Stephen Caparotta, Steven Young, D. Walston,James Lewis Free, Jon Gill, Miles Lawrence, Robert A. Black, Bill McCaul, Bart Hagemeyer, Frank Marks, Joe Cione, Frank Lepore, Jan Nul,John Guiney, Chris Landsea, Philippe Caroff, Thierry Dupont and Anne-Claire Fontan for having contributed to this FAQ.

This section enables to find technical definitions and the meaning of many acronyms thanks to the Glossary.

Main source for the FAQ: NOAA.
Adaptation: Tropical Cyclone Centre La Réunion.
Translation : Tropical Cyclone Centre La Réunion and Météo-France Nouvelle-Calédonie