Tropical cyclone seed

A tropical cyclone seed refers to a lower-tropospheric cyclonic moist tropical disturbance that may or may not develop into a tropical cyclone. Successful seeds are functionally equivalent to precursor disturbances in tropical cyclogenesis, but the term “seed” is used more frequently in the climate science community, while “disturbance” remains standard in the weather community.

For more information, see Wang, Z. and Coauthors, 2025: On the definition and tracking of tropical cyclone seeds from a climate perspective. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 106, E1815–E1822, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0200.1.

Term edited on 3 February 2026.