How Hurricanes Form

Its hurricane season again and it has been a busy season already. Hurricane season starts on June 1st and ends on November. There have been occurrences in which hurricanes have happened outside of these dates but these dates encompass 97% of hurricanes in a season.

So there is one basic rule that applies to all hurricanes that form and that is that the water in which hurricanes start out in has to be at least eighty degrees Fahrenheit. This basic rule means that you won't be getting hit with hurricanes in Canada. Another two key ingredients for hurricanes to form is moist air and trade winds that converge on one another.

Most hurricanes form right off of the coast of Africa and then move out to sea. A low pressure forms over warm water and begins to spiral in a circular motion. As strengthening begins, a high pressure is formed and the air around the storm is sucked inwards and starts the formation of the eye. The eye of the hurricane is where the low pressure of the storm is and is relatively calm compared to the rest of the storm. As the storm moves westward, it will form an eye and an eye wall. Rain bans will start to form when in coming air rises into the hurricane and saturates the air. The air will then cool and condense at the top and form clouds. The clouds will begin to rotate with the hurricane and form rain bans. These rain bans can produce inches of rain in a matter of hours and can last for days.

A hurricane finally starts slowing down when it eventually runs into either land or cold water. If the hurricane runs into cold water then the high pressure dissipates and the storm fizzles out. When a hurricane hits land, the storm will keep going in a path that has been helped along by high and low pressures around the land. The hurricane will lose its power when it has hit land and has no more water feeding it. The storm will eventually become a low pressure in the system dumping tons of water in areas and having high winds also.

An interesting fact on why hurricanes spin the way they do is because of the Coriolis force. The Coriolis force is a natural phenomena that has liquids veer right in the northern hemisphere and left in the southern hemisphere. This means that hurricanes in the northern hemisphere turn counterclockwise and in the southern hemisphere they turn clockwise.

Source: http://www.windows.ucar.edu