How are hurricanes formed?

Twists and Twirls: How are hurricanes formed?

       When moving to Houston, Texas I expected a front-row seat to one of mother nature’s most spectacular and extreme weather events, a HURRICANE! I remember tuning into the news when the devastating category 4 hurricane ‘Harvey’ made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in 2017. Which made me ask myself “how are hurricanes formed?”. These deadly meteorological events begin with a combination of warm ocean waters, cloud shenanigans, and a pinch of windy mayhem; setting the stage for the perfect storm to start brewing, like a giant pot of weather mischief.

       Hurricane formation involves several key steps. First, warm ocean waters play a pivotal role by allowing hurricanes to thrive, providing the energy needed for the storm to develop. This results in evaporation of the warm ocean water rising into the atmosphere creating low pressure which eventually draws moist air, allowing the formation of clouds. Second, these clouds and winds form a system that begins to circulate because of the earth rotation, known as the Coriolis effect driving the storm by converging high winds establishing a strong low-pressure center (the eye of the storm). As if that wasn’t enough, strong winds become the hurricane’s rowdy best friend. Once the wind speed increases and upgrades the tropical depression to a tropical storm, is when it is given a name. 

      Further intensification of winds and clouds development results in what we officially call a hurricane. These are classified from category 1 to category 5 based on their wind speeds, with category 5 being the most intense. Things get wild when the hurricane decides it has had enough of the ocean and decides to bring the party to the coast, rolling in with devastating winds, heavy rainfall, and surging storms. The Gulf Coast is no stranger to mother nature assembling its entourage for its devastating arrival. Just remember to batten down the hatches. 

By Roy Arrieta