How are Hurricanes Created?

Tropical Twisters - Hurricanes: How they work and what they do.

VR Tour of a Hurricane

Wind patterns near the ocean surface spiral inward. Bands of thunderstorms form, allowing the air to warm further and rise higher into the atmosphere. If the winds at these higher levels are relatively light, this structure can remain intact and allow for additional strengthening.

The above Quicktime VR Movie show a side projection of Hurricane Luis in 1995. Click and drag your cursor over the hurricane to get a 360º view of Luis. Click here to download a copy of the plug-in.

The VR movie on the left is a 5MB representation of Hurricane Fran. Both movies were created by the Visualization of Remote Sensing Data (VRSD). VRSD is a showcase for imagery created by the Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and by other groups. The visualizations are derived from satellite data which has been color-enhanced or otherwise processed to yield high-impact renderings of hurricanes and other natural phenomena.

Updated: January 22, 2003

On the Move...
The winds that make up a hurricane are constantly moving. The Quicktime VR movie on the left shows Hurricane Luis in one instance of time. The following movie shows how the winds of a hurricane can change over a short amount of time.

Landfall
After a few hours over land, a hurricane will weaken rapidly. Without the the moisture and heat sources provided by the ocean, the storm can no longer produce thunderstorms near the eye. Without this convection, the storm's energy dissipates.

Find out more about Hurricanes.