9781422269558

Can you imagine being in hurricane-force winds? This scene is from Key West, Florida. Since Key West is the southernmost part of Florida, it experiences many hurricanes.

Geographical Location For a hurricane to form it needs warm ocean surface water, moist air, and a low-pressure system . Hurricanes frequently find these ideal weather events in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, eastern North Pacific Ocean, and occasionally the central North Pacific Ocean. Wind currents often set most tropical storms on a course from Africa toward the Caribbean, Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico. Some hurricanes drift north where winds shift from west to east and make them turn back into the Atlantic Ocean, while other storms can encounter cooler ocean temperatures, which cause them to die off. This explains why hurricanes rarely hit northern states. Europe (cyclones), China (typhoons), and the United States (hurricanes) are commonly hit with tropical cyclones. Cyclones

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Facing the Weather: Hurricanes