Hurricanes are classified by wind speed and the amount of damage that scientists predict the storm will cause when it reaches land. Heavy rains and floods can continue far inland. But dangerous winds can still cause damage, and storm surges-when a strong storm pushes ocean water ashore-can flood coastal areas with more than 20 feet of water. When winds reach 74 miles an hour, it’s officially a hurricane.Īs a hurricane moves over cooler water or hits land, it loses the warm water that fuels it and begins to weaken. When winds reach 39 miles an hour, the tropical depression becomes a tropical storm. The low-pressure area continues to suck up hot, moist air, and the spiral gets stronger and faster. As that warm air rises, it releases heat, cools down, and condenses into gusty bands of clouds and storms. The low air pressure causes the hot, humid air from the ocean to rise in a spiral shape. If the water is at least 79☏, a hurricane might form. A tropical depression is a line of rain showers and weak thunderstorms that circle around an area of low air pressure. Hurricanes begin when a tropical depression forms in the ocean. During these times, oceans have warmer water, which is what a hurricane needs to form. In the Southern Hemisphere (the area south of the equator), storm season is between April and December, with peak storm activity around May and November. In the Northern Hemisphere (the part of Earth north of the equator), hurricanes generally occur between mid-August to late October. Hurricanes are strong storms that start in the ocean and have winds of at least 74 miles an hour. As many as 150 occur around the world each year. Scientists know them all as tropical cyclones. In the western Pacific Ocean, they’re known as typhoons in the southern Pacific and Indian Oceans, they’re called cyclones. They’re called hurricanes if they occur in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Pacific Ocean. These powerful storms have different names depending on where in the world they form. Even sharks are heading out to calmer waters. The wind at the beach is whipping at 95 miles an hour.
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