Q. When is a hurricane not a hurricane?

A. When it's a typhoon or cyclone.

The recent arrival of a powerful typhoon to mainland China got me thinking about what makes a typhoon a typhoon.

According to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), big weather events carry their own region-specific monikers. Also, there may be differences in rotation direction.

Check this out:

Hurricane -- North Atlantic Ocean, Northeast Pacific Ocean east or South Pacific Ocean east

Typhoon -- Northwest Pacific Ocean west

Severe Tropical Cyclone -- Southwest Pacific Ocean west or Southeast Indian Ocean east

Severe Cyclonic Storm -- North Indian Ocean

Tropical Cyclone -- Southwest Indian Ocean

The above image caught my eye because it shows a cluster of typhoons building up all at once. On Aug. 7, a NASA satellite spotted a trio of typhoons in a single pass of the Pacific Ocean.

NASA says, "The bright feature also seen in this image is a phenomenon known as sunglint, in which sunlight bounces off the ocean surface into MODIS' camera eye."

"Sunglint" is also a manufacturer and distributor of a wide range of postmix draught soft drinks in the UK. It is not known at this time if Sunglint's soft drinks will cause sunglint in outdoor conditions.