All hurricanes are a product of heat energy stored in warm tropical waters.This energy is released into a developing storm through evaporation thencondensation. The warmer the sea surface, the greater the potential for heat tobe liberated into the atmosphere. The warming that occurs through the interiorof a developing tropical storm creates a temperature and thus a pressuregradient between itself and the surrounding environment. As long as thisprocess continues, the storm either maintains its current strength orintensifies even more. The stages of tropical development in order are wave,depression, storm and hurricane.
The hurricane frequency curve clearly shows that July is still a slow monththen tropical formation really takes off in August. Why is this? One reason isthat the heat stored in the oceans reaches a maximum from August intoSeptember. Another important factor are mid-latitude westerly winds which areless competitive in the tropics later in summer.
Story by AccuWeather.com senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
