What is a hurricane for kids?

A hurricane is a large rotating storm with high speed winds that forms over warm waters in tropical areas. Hurricanes have sustained winds of at least 74 miles per hour and an area of low air pressure in the center called the eye. Different Names for Hurricanes. The scientific name for a hurricane is a tropical cyclone ...

What is a hurricane simple definition?

A hurricane is a tropical storm with winds that have reached a constant speed of 74 miles per hour or more. The eye of a storm is usually 20-30 miles wide and may extend over 400 miles. The dangers of a storm include torrential rains, high winds and storm surges.

What causes hurricanes simple answer?

Hurricanes form when warm moist air over water begins to rise. The rising air is replaced by cooler air. This process continues to grow large clouds and thunderstorms. These thunderstorms continue to grow and begin to rotate thanks to earth's Coriolis Effect.

What is a hurricane and why does it happen?

Hurricanes are powerhouse weather events that suck heat from tropical waters to fuel their fury. These violent storms form over the ocean, often beginning as a tropical wave—a low pressure area that moves through the moisture-rich tropics, possibly enhancing shower and thunderstorm activity.

How do hurricanes form short answer?

For one to form, there needs to be warm ocean water and moist, humid air in the region. When humid air is flowing upward at a zone of low pressure over warm ocean water, the water is released from the air as creating the clouds of the storm. As it rises, the air in a hurricane rotates.

What's a Hurricane? | Weather Science | SciShow Kids

What are 5 facts about hurricanes?

A typical hurricane can dump 6 inches to a foot of rain across a region. The most violent winds and heaviest rains take place in the eye wall, the ring of clouds and thunderstorms closely surrounding the eye. Every second, a large hurricane releases the energy of 10 atomic bombs. Hurricanes can also produce tornadoes.

Where do hurricanes happen?

Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern north Pacific Ocean. Typhoons occur in the western Pacific Ocean. Tropical cyclones occur in the south Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean.

What do hurricanes need to form?

Tropical cyclones are like engines that require warm, moist air as fuel. So the first ingredient needed for a tropical cyclone is warm ocean water. That is why tropical cyclones form only in tropical regions where the ocean is at least 80 degrees F for at least the top 50 meters (about 165 feet) below the surface.

What are effects of hurricanes?

They produce strong winds, storm surge flooding, and heavy rainfall that can lead to inland flooding, tornadoes, and rip currents.

How long do hurricanes last?

A typical hurricane lasts anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. But a hurricane can sustain itself for as long as a month, as Hurricane John did in 1994.

What makes a storm a hurricane?

A hurricane is an area of low pressure over tropical or sub-tropical waters, with organised convection (i.e. thunderstorm activity) and sustained winds near the surface of at least 74 m.p.h. (and stronger gusts) circulating either anti-clockwise (in the northern hemisphere) or clockwise (in the southern hemisphere).

Why do hurricanes always hit at night?

It's at night when the upper and middle part of the atmosphere cools (because the sun is not there to heat it up) and that releases energy in the storms, which turns into winds and moisture. With the increased winds and moisture, storms become stronger, likely pushing them further along their paths toward land.

How do you describe a hurricane in writing?

Describe the weather as the hurricane approaches. You can give detail to the swirling mass of dark clouds overhead, the wind as it picks up speed, the bad storms on the outer bands of the hurricane that cause tornadoes, and the rain falling in horizontal sheets.

How do hurricanes affect Earth?

Strong winds and flooding can uproot plants and kill land animals, devastating natural areas. Hurricanes may also destroy energy and chemical production facilities, gas stations, and other businesses, causing the release of toxic chemicals and pollutants into the environment.

What type of disaster is a hurricane?

A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone or severe tropical storm. A typical cyclone is accompanied by thunderstorms, and a counterclockwise circulation of winds near the earth's surface.

What is the purpose of a hurricane?

Hurricanes help to move heat from the warm equatorial regions toward the cold polar regions. Hurricanes act as giant engines that convert the energy from warm air into powerful winds and waves. In addition, hurricanes don't just transport heat to the poles they also help radiate that heat out of the tropics into space.

How do hurricanes move?

In general, hurricanes are steered by global winds. The prevailing winds that surround a hurricane, also known as the environmental wind field, are what guide a hurricane along its path. The hurricane propagates in the direction of this wind field, which also factors into the system's propagation speed.

Where do hurricanes end?

The End of a Storm:

When a hurricane travels over land or cold water, its energy source (warm water) is gone and the storm weakens, quickly dying.

How fast does a hurricane move?

Typically, a hurricane's forward speed averages around 15-20 mph. However, some hurricanes stall, often causing devastatingly heavy rain. Others can accelerate to more than 60 mph.

How often do hurricanes happen?

Each year, an average of ten tropical storms develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Carribean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Many of these remain over the ocean. Six of these storms become hurricanes each year.

How are hurricanes named?

For Atlantic hurricanes, there is a list of male and female names which are used on a six-year rotation. The only time that there is a change is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate.

What are 3 characteristics of a hurricane?

Hurricanes are especially dangerous storms because they combine the triple threat of violent winds, torrential rains, and abnormally high waves and storm surge.