CONTENTS WHAT IS A HURRICANE 4 HURRICANE SEASON 6 STORM SAFETY 8 HURRICANE NAMES 10 BIG STORMS 12 HOW DO HURRICANES FORM 14 WIND 16 WATER 18 OCEAN CURRENTS 20 CLIMATE 22 CLIMATE CHANGE 24 FUTURE HURRICANE SEASONS 28 GLOSSARY 30 FOR MORE INFORMATION 31 INDEX 32
WHAT IS A HURRICANE A hurricane is a type of storm These storms are named for Huracan a god of evil according to the people who once lived on islands in the Caribbean The storms can be powerful and dangerous Hurricanes form over warm ocean waters Their winds spiral around a central area They bring heavy rains and strong winds Hurricanes are powerful storms They can cause a lot of damage as Hurricane Maria did in Puerto Rico in September 2017 4
VOCABULARY To spiral means to circle around a center when they hit land The rains can cause floods The winds can destroy buildings and rip trees out of the ground Hurricanes have different names around the world Any storm that forms in warm ocean waters and has winds that blow in a spiral is called a tropical cyclone Tropical cyclones that form near North America and the Caribbean are called hurricanes A tropical tropical cyclone that forms near the Philippines Japan or China is called a typhoon One that forms near Australia or in the Indian Ocean is often often called a cyclone A satellite image taken in space shows the winds and rain spiraling around a central area 5
