Hurricanes

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(Encarta). Hurricanes consist of high-velocity winds blowing circularly around a low-pressure center, known as the eye of the storm. The low-pressure center develops when the warm, saturated air prevalent in the doldrums is under run and forced upward by denser, cooler air. From the edge of the storm toward its center, the atmospheric pressure drops sharply and the wind velocity rises. The winds attain maximum force close to the point of lowest pressure. Encarta Encyclopedia states that hurricanes generally move in a path resembling the curve of a parabola. Also, that in the Northern Hemisphere the storms usually travel first in a northwesterly direction and in the higher latitudes turn toward the northeast. In the Southern Hemisphere the usual path of the hurricane is initially to the southwest and subsequently to the southeast.

Hurricanes travel at varying rates. Those areas in which the hurricane winds blow in the same direction as the general movement of the storm are ...

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