Where do typhoons occur?

QUICK ANSWER

A typhoon is the name given to a tropical cyclone that forms in the north western part of
the Pacific Ocean. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are all names for the same type
of storm, and different names are used based on where the storm originates. Tropical
cyclones that form in the eastern Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean are termed hurricanes,
while those that occur in the Indian or south Pacific oceans are simply called cyclones.
Despite the difference in names, these terms all refer to a specific type of organized,
rotating weather system of clouds and thunderstorms. These cyclones occur around the
world in a band that stretches approximately 300 miles north and south of the equator,
as the specific conditions required for their formation can only occur in subtropical or
tropical waters.

What causes a typhoon?

QUICK ANSWER

Typhoons are cyclonic tropical storms caused by a combination of warm water,

evaporation, swirling winds and other factors. They typically start as smaller more
mundane storms, but under the right conditions they may grow into monster coastlinewrecking typhoons.
The balmy tropical oceans propagates increased evaporation, and the condensation of
that water vapor into clouds releases a lot of heat. The heat creates a large area of low
pressure, typically transforming it into a tropical storm. This storm sucks in surrounding
winds which begin spinning about themselves due to the Coriolis effect. The storm
grows over days and weeks as more moisture and winds are propagated by the warm
ocean waters.
Typhoons are essentially gigantic heat engines. The warm water feeds heat into the air
above it, and that in turn imparts more energy to the winds rotating in the storm. The
warmer the water and the larger the area the warm water occupies, the more energy the
storm picks up and the faster the winds become. Hurricane season occurs when large
swaths of the ocean thousands of miles across possess waters warm enough to trigger
and sustain multiple typhoons.