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CHAPTER

WHAT MAKES A HURRICANE

Who doesn’t enjoy the sound of rain hitting the roof and the windows? The rain often cools off hot summer days and helps us sleep better. However, when rain is accompanied by significant weather, it causes concern. Tropical cyclones are rapidly rotating storms that form over oceans that provide the energy cyclones need to develop. Tropical cyclones have an organized system of clouds and thunderstorms and a low-pressure center with clouds spiraling toward the center of the storm. Tropical cyclones have different names depending on where they originate. For example, tropical cyclones that form in the Atlantic or Eastern Pacific Oceans are called hurricanes , while a tropical cyclone that forms in the western North Pacific Ocean is called a typhoon. Tropical cyclones that form in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans are called cyclones.

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