How Hurricanes are Being Formed?

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on how hurricanes are being formed and what happens as they increase in power and move along their paths. This event includes the scientific background of how they start and what variables interact and affect this process. As well as how location affects how hurricanes form. This paper also goes into the scientific reasoning behind hurricane spreading and categorizing hurricanes by certain traits they received from when they were being formed, along with the differences in certain storms are.

The stages of hurricanes are also included in detail step by step. Quotes are provided throughout the essay, backing up all of my claims with scientific direct evidence. A hurricane is an intense form of weather that is created over the ocean. Once formed, they can spread to different locations over various distances. Due to the lack of access to atmospheric information, scientists cannot physically measure and make predictions of when hurricanes will form.

The only predictions that scientists can draw up is the path that the storm can take once it forms.

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These storms often begin as what is called a tropical wave. These are low-pressure areas that move through the areas of high atmospheric moisture, like tropical climates. As hurricanes increase in power and size, more and more moisture is gathered into it as it rises to higher elevations. The clouds that are formed by cooled water vapor and condensed water droplets are known as cumulonimbus clouds. As the clouds form and hurricanes travel over warmer water, it increases in size and force.

Once the storm makes landfall or reaches colder water, the strength begins to progressively decrease. The National Ocean Services explains how these tropical waves begin to develop into hurricanes in this quote, The NOAA explains that as the weather system moves towards the west over the tropics, heated air rises upwards into the storm. This causes the formation of an area of low pressure at the bottom of the storm. This process causes air to rush in and fill the empty space. This air rises and cools, forming clouds that make up the thunderstorms.

In the clouds, water condenses, forms droplets, and releases heat to power the storm. When the wind picks up to around 74 mph, the storm is classified as a hurricane. This quote walks through the process undertaken as a hurricane forms and begins to grow in strength. The necessary ingredients needed to form a hurricane include: a pre-existing weather disturbance, a large body of warm water, any kind of thunderstorm activity, and low wind shear. Contrary to this, even with all of these factors, a hurricane could also not form. Through personal research, it was shown that hurricanes can be split up into certain parts. The first part of the hurricane is the eye. The eye is located at the center of the storm. The eye is usually around 20-40 miles across in diameter, with the size varying depending on the size of the storm. The storm itself rotates around the eye. While winds in the rim of the storm can be violent and crazy, in the eye the weather is calm and the air pressure is low. Another part of this storm is the eye wall, which is the boundary of the eye and can range from about 5-30 miles in width. This is where, unlike the eye, the most intense winds of the storm can be found.

The last part of the hurricane is referred to as rain bands. These consist of thick layers of clouds that form around the eye. This part is actually known for making the hurricane look like its traditional spiral form. The width of these can range from 50-300 miles long. This part can sometimes be hidden when reaching high clouds, which can cause issues in finding information on the already formed hurricanes that are changing and traveling at fast paces.Location is a big factor in the development of hurricanes. These powerful storms are also known by various names depending on the location in which they occur. These names include typhoons or cyclones. The name “hurricane” is only traditionally given to storms that form over the eastern Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. The Earth’s rotation on its axis also plays a part in the formation of hurricanes around the world. A result of this can be seen in the rotation pattern of the storm. If a hurricane forms north of the equator, they rotate in a counterclockwise direction. If the storm forms due south of the equator they will spin in a clockwise direction. Hurricanes start with the same original concept, but have the potential to evolve in different ways depending on the environmental circumstances that they form around.

Hurricanes have different stages of development. These stages include: tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, and hurricane. These describe the shifts in the development of hurricanes as they form and travel. A tropical disturbance is the first stage of this process, which is dominated by numerous thunderstorms. These only have a small amount of wind circulation at the time, but wind speed can increase to higher levels of speed. Scientifically proven to be about 20 knots or 23 miles per hour. Tropical depression is the second stage of this process. This occurs when multiple thunderstorms form in groups under specific conditions for a certain time and length.

During this process, the winds have to be between 20 and 30 knots. Next in this process is a tropical storm. This stage usually begins heavy rainfall. This forms, when winds have been maximized winds have increased to 35-64 knots. This is when the hurricane shape begins to develop, and the winds are more classified as becoming a hurricane intensity. At the end of this process, the hurricane is finally formed. This is due to pressures dropping and are at 64 knots. As well as a defined rotation at the eye of the hurricane. This is defined as the center of the whole hurricane.