The spiral bands that occur in tropical cyclones can be conveniently divided into two classes—outer bands and inner bands. Evidence is presented here that the outer bands form as the result of nonlinear effects during the breakdown of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) through barotropic instability. In this process a zonal strip of high potential vorticity (the ITCZ shear zone or monsoon trough) begins to distort in a varicose fashion, with the potential vorticity (PV) becoming pooled in local regions that are connected by filaments of high PV. As the pooled regions become more axisymmetric, the filaments become thinner and begin to wrap around the PV centers. It is argued that inner bands form in a different manner. As a tropical cyclone intensifies due to latent heat release, the PV field becomes nearly circular with the highest values of PV in the cyclone center. The radial gradient of PV provides a state on which PV waves (the generalization of Rossby waves) can propagate. The nonline... Abstract The spiral bands that occur in tropical cyclones can be conveniently divided into two classes—outer bands and inner bands. Evidence is presented here that the outer bands form as the result of nonlinear effects during the breakdown of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) through barotropic instability. In this process a zonal strip of high potential vorticity (the ITCZ shear zone or monsoon trough) begins to distort in a varicose fashion, with the potential vorticity (PV) becoming pooled in local regions that are connected by filaments of high PV. As the pooled regions become more axisymmetric, the filaments become thinner and begin to wrap around the PV centers. It is argued that inner bands form in a different manner. As a tropical cyclone intensifies due to latent heat release, the PV field becomes nearly circular with the highest values of PV in the cyclone center. The radial gradient of PV provides a state on which PV waves (the generalization of Rossby waves) can propagate. The nonline...