The eye of a hurricane is the cloud-free, relatively calm area right at the center of the storm, usually between 20 and 40 miles (32 to 65 km) in diameter. But, broadly speaking, a hurricane has only four main parts: the eye, the eyewall, the rainbands, and the cloud cover. Scientists who study hurricanes use esoteric terminology to describe the way they move them, speaking of things like deep moist convection, inertia-gravity waves, and vorticity. All the while, the entire system is moving across the surface of the Earth. Hot, wet air is constantly rising, and cool, dry air is constantly sinking. Air rushes around as if on a carousel, while at the same time moving inwards at the bottom of the storm and outwards at the top. Hurricanes are more complicated than they appear on the radar image of a weather report. How Hurricanes, Form, Move, and Die Anatomy of a Hurricane The more we know about hurricanes, the better we’ll understand how to prepare for them, so we can minimize damage and loss of life in the future. They help keep the Earth’s temperature stable by moving heat energy from the equator to the poles. But at the same time, they are part of an enormous and complicated natural system that makes our planet a place we can live. They are also much bigger than other violent storms, like tornadoes. That’s because they release an enormous amount of energy-when fully developed, one hurricane can release heat energy equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. But people pay the most attention to them when they come near land, and rightly so, because hurricanes can do a lot of damage. Whatever they’re named, hurricanes all form over tropical ocean waters, which are the source of their strength. Unfortunately, if you want a hurricane to be named after you, you’re out of luck-there’s no procedure for that. Greek letters are used if the entire list is used within a season and if a hurricane forms outside the official hurricane season, it is named after the date on which it occurs. Today, the World Meteorological Organization maintains six lists of alphabetically ordered male and female names that are rotated, meaning that eventually, each hurricane name will come around again-except if the hurricane is devastating enough that its name is retired (as were the names Camille and Katrina). They initially tried several naming strategies, including naming hurricanes after the girlfriends of those observing them, but by 1953, meteorologists had begun using alphabetically ordered female names. In 1979, male names were added. Hurricanes also get their own individual names, just like new babies. In the Atlantic, this practice began during World War II, when military meteorologists had to figure out how ships and planes could navigate around hurricanes. In this article, “hurricane” will be used as an umbrella term to refer to them no matter where they are. Scientists often use “tropical cyclone” as a generic term, while “hurricane,” “typhoon,” and “cyclone” are regional terms. The reason for the three names is that these storms are called different things in different places. They are all organized storm systems that form over warm ocean waters, rotate around areas of low pressure, and have wind speeds of at least 74 mph (119 km per hour). What’s the difference between a hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone? The short answer is that there is none.
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