Tuesday, September 6, 2011

How Hurricanes Are Formed!

Hey guys!

      I'm sure most of you following this blog know about hurricane Irene. It wasn't as bad as hurricane Katrina, but it certainly did do a lot of  damage, tearing up trees, even causing a few deaths. A lot of you might be wondering, how are hurricane formed?

      Basically, hurricanes are formed when warm moist air from the ocean start rising up from the water to the sky, leaving less air near the water, thus creating a low air pressure gradient near the water surface. The air cools as it rises, and it can't hold all the moisture it contains. The water then condenses out of the air, which is a natural way for water to produce heat. That heat fuels the winds that start to pick up to faster and faster speeds, feeding of more warm moist air to go even faster. That is what triggers and starts hurricanes, but as soon as it comes to a point where it reaches cold water areas or land, the hurricane starts losing the wind speed because of the lack of the warm air.

Fun Fact: For a hurricane to be official, it needs to have the wind speed of 119 km/h (74 miles an hour)

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