A Cyclone is a high pressure system, winds rotate clockwise, in the northern hemisphere but a low pressure in the southern hemisphere.
Hence the geographical location bit.
The Cyclone is the only questionable one of the three names you listed but as a coloquialism (have I spelt that right) they all mean extremely unpleasant weather.
Cyclone comes from the Greek kyklon = to whirl about
Typhoon from the Greek again typhon from which were probably derived Portugese tufao (= hurricane); Persian tufan and Japanese t'ai fung = big wind. Did the Portugese sailors carry the term East?
Hurricane come from the Spanish (Carribean) huracan = Cyclonic (..) storm.
Being an exaggerated depression, the winds spiral anti-clockwise in towards the centre, the area of least atmospheric pressure.
Cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes are all depresions - low presure. They rotate anti-clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere.
What they're called depends on where they are. In the western Pacific Ocean, west of the International Date Line, they are called typhoons. In the Indian Ocean and the Coral Sea, they are called cyclones.
Alex Rogers
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.YachtsAtSea.com> www.YachtsAtSea.com </A>
If the RR Merlin was the most successful 'conventional' piston engine on the Allied side in WWII, then the Cyclone was probably the most successful radial piston engine.
BTW, did anybody see the film about the development of the Spitfire (David Niven, Lesley Howard) that was on the box over Christmas? If so, I'd like to know how close to reality that scene was where Sir Henry Royce offered to develop the Merlin for £750 (or was it £7500?)
In some past century the Mongols were trying to invade Japan, twice or thrice they tried but they always failed because of very strong typhoon wind devastating their fleet. The japanese then named that typhoon The Divine Wind, aka Kamikaze
Hurricanes are also benefitting from a useful extension of beaufort scale, the Saffir simpson scale, going from 1 to 5, where winds must be well over one million knots