How do hurricanes work

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Hurricanes form because warm air, heated by the ocean, rises above the higher cooler air due to its lightness. Eventually water vapour in the warm air condenses into water droplets as it comes into contact with cool air. The rising warm air is replaced by cooler air, creating winds that are sent spinning by the Coriolis Force.

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Hurricanes can be up to 1000 kilometres wide and last for weeks, flattening whole communities and destroying crops.

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Q.� What Is The Coriolis Force

A.� The rotating Earth causes this effect, deflecting moving objects to one side as it spins. The force makes a hurricane spin anti clockwise.

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A hurricane needs the Coriolis Force to spin it, since this force is too weak near the equator, hurricanes can't form within�500 kilometres of it.

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Q.� Why do hurricanes die

A.� Because they move across water and usually end up over land, where without their energy source, warm water, they loose energy and die out.

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Q.� What causes a hurricane to have an eye

A.� A hurricane has two distinct parts; the eye and the eye wall. The eye is the calm area in the centre of the hurricane, it can measure up to 30 kilometres wide and has very few clouds. The spiralling action of the hurricane produces the eye. As the eye of the hurricane passes over you, the wind drops and you should be able to see the sky again.

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You can create your own hurricane eye in your bath. Just fill it up with about 10 cm of water and then pull the plug. The water spirals around the plughole before disappearing down it. The spiralling water gets faster and faster, whereas the centre of the spiral, the ‘eye’, appears clear, you should be able to see through it and maybe put your finger into it without it getting wet.

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The eye wall is the area around the eye with the fastest, most violent winds.

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Do you want to know how a climatic effect works Click here to ask.

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by Lisa Cardy