Hurricanes, one of the natures` most dangerous phenomenons form over the warm ocean water of the tropics. When warm moist air over the water rises, it is replaced by cooler air. The cooler air will then warm and start to rise. This cycle causes huge storm clouds to form. These storm clouds will begin to rotate with the spin of the Earth forming an organized system. If there is enough warm water, the cycle will continue and the storm clouds and wind speeds will grow causing a hurricane to form.
But how do we differentiate the size of the hurricanes? Of course, there are categories. Hurricane categories are from 1 to 5, with 1 being the weakest and 5 the strongest. The categories of the hurricanes are decided based on how fast the wind spin and the storm cloud inside is.
- Category 1 – 74 to 95 mph
- Category 2 – 96 to 110 mph
- Category 3 – 111 to 129 mph
- Category 4 – 130 to 156 mph
- Category 5 – 157 or higher mp
What are the parts of a hurricane and which is the most dangerous?
- Eye – At the center of the hurricane is the eye. The eye is an area of very low air pressure. There are generally no clouds in the eye and the wind is calm. Don’t let this fool you, however, the most dangerous part of the storm is at the edge of the eye called the eye wall.
- Eye wall – Around the outside of the eye is a wall made up of very heavy clouds. This is the most dangerous part of the hurricane and where the highest speed winds are. The winds at the eye wall can reach speeds of 155 miles per hour.
- Rainbands – Hurricanes have large spirally bands of rain called rainbands. These bands can drop huge amounts of rainfall causing flooding when the hurricane hits land.
- Diameter – Hurricanes can become huge storms. The diameter of the hurricane is measured from one side to the other. Hurricanes can span a diameter of over 600 miles.
- Height – The storm clouds that power hurricanes can become very tall. A powerful hurricane can reach nine miles into the atmosphere.
Irma, Dorian, Sally? How are hurricanes named?
Using names for hurricanes makes it much easier for meteorologists, researchers, emergency response workers, ship captains and citizens to communicate about specific hurricanes and be clearly understood. Which is why it is super-important that we all are on the same page when it comes to naming hurricanes.
While previously hurricanes have been named by the geographical position (coordinated) where they were situated, in 1978 meteorologists watching storms in the eastern North Pacific began using men’s names for half of the storms. Meteorologists for the Atlantic Ocean began using men’s names in 1979. For each year a list of 21 names, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet, was developed and arranged in alphabetical order (names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z were not used). The first tropical storm of the year was given the name beginning with the letter “A,” the second with the letter “B” and so on through the alphabet. During even-numbered years, men’s names were given to the odd-numbered storms and during odd-numbered years, women’s names were given to odd-numbered storms.
