The storm with an eye
A hurricane is a storm that’s shaped like a doughnut. It’s a great,
whirling circle of clouds, hundreds of miles (kilometers) wide. In the
middle is a hole where the ahis perfectly calm. This hole is called the
“eye” of the humcane.
No one knows for sure what causes humcanes. A humcane begins over the
ocean, near the equator, where the ah- is very hot, wet, and still. As
great masses of this warm, wet air rise up, towering rain clouds form.
Sometimes, something happens to start the clouds whirling. Then, warm
air in the center of the clouds forms into an eye. When the wind reaches
a speed of seventy-four miles (119 kilometers) an hour, the storm is
called a humcane.
A hurricane is a great, boiling, whirling circle of wind and rain. The
wind of a humcane is terrible, indeed. It may blow at two hundred miles
(322 kilometers) an hour. It causes huge ocean waves that rush ahead of
the hurricane. If these waves reach land, they can cause sudden,
terrible floods. If a humcane blows over land, the wind can tear up big
trees by the roots and push over whole buildings.
People in the path of the eye of a humcane know that they will be hit by
two storms. First, there is a long line of clouds—the front of the
circle. The wind begins to blow hard. Then harder. Rain comes
pouring down. The sound of the blowing wind and rushing rain is like
steady thunder.
Then, the wind dies down. The rain stops. The air grows very hot and
still. The eye of the hurricane is passing over. It may take an hour or
more to pass.
Then the back of the circle arrives. Once more the howling wind blows
and the driving rain pours down. The wind and rain rage again, for a
time. Finally, the back of the circle moves on, carrying the wind and
rain to another place.
The United States National Weather Service uses an alphabetical list of
first names to identify hurricanes. Each season, the first hurricane is
given a name that begins with A.
It’s a Fact
Hurricanes have different names in different parts of the world. They
are called cyclones when they happen over the Indian Ocean and typhoons
in the western Pacific. In Australia, a hurricane is called a
willy-willy.
