This article by Thomas Loridan, Risk Frontiers, was published in Asia Pacific Fire Magazine, October 3, 2017.

Extreme winds from tropical cyclones (TCs) regularly threaten communities worldwide. In recent decades significant efforts have been put towards improving our understanding of the mechanisms involved. In particular detailed analysis of satellite imagery and observations from aircraft reconnaissance missions have allowed formulation of a well-accepted framework whereby asymmetries in the TC wind field structure are attributed to the forward motion of the system: stronger winds occur to the right (left) of a moving TC in the northern (southern) hemisphere with the magnitude of the left/right asymmetry increasing as the storm moves faster. Read more.