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COLORADO

Wind, Hail Storm and Hurricanes

How are hurricanes or hail storms formed?
All tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, develop in the same way.
The ocean needs to be at least 26.5 degrees Celsius for a hurricane to form.
When wind blows across the warm ocean water, the warm, moist air rapidly
rises. As it rises, the moist air cools and the water in it condenses into large
storm clouds. The cooling water also releases a lot of heat. This heat transfer
creates enough energy to cause strong winds. These winds push even more
warm air up from the ocean surface. More clouds and more wind make the
storm more intense. Rapidly moving air creates an area of low pressure at the
centre of the hurricane. This is called the “eye of the storm.” It’s usually very
calm. However, the area around the eye has the most violent winds.
Hurricanes begin as tropical storms over the warm moist waters of the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. As the moisture evaporates it
rises until enormous amounts of heated moist air are twisted high in the
atmosphere. The winds begin to circle counterclockwise north of the equator
or clockwise south of the equator. As long as the hurricane remains over
waters of 79F or warmer, it continues to pull moisture from the surface and
grow in size and force. If the wind keeps getting faster, it becomes a tropical
storm and then a hurricane if winds are more than 74 mph.
- Parts of a Hurricane
- Eye - Center. It is the calm part of the storm
- Eye Wall - This is around the eye and has the strongest winds
and rains. The winds may blow 200 MPH
- Rain Bands - These are the clouds that spin out and make the
storm stronger
- Shape of the storm
- The most powerful hurricanes have a round almost circular
shape. ​In its early stages, a storm is less defined, consisting
mostly of cloud cover and no obvious eye. But as wind speeds
rise, you start getting a stronger, rising motion in the growing
wall of clouds that forms around the eye. Circulation surrounding
the eye is an indicator of the storm’s strength. However, weaker
storms don’t always have an eye and are more difficult to track,
especially at night.
- Color and temperature
- Color in these images is an indicator of the temperature at the
very top of the clouds. The colors are a little counterintuitive,
since we typically associate red with hot and blue with cold. It is
not the case with regard to storm images, blue is warmest; red is
cooler, black is coldest. Colder cloud-top temperatures often
indicate that the clouds are deep and that the thunderstorm is
intense. It’s typical to see colder temperatures in the eye wall

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