How do hurricanes form over the ocean?
The Ocean's Spin Cycle
How do hurricanes form over the ocean?
Out over the warm tropical ocean, the air is doing something sneaky. It's gathering itself up, getting ready to spin into one of the biggest storms on Earth. A hurricane doesn't arrive all at once — it grows, like a snowball rolling downhill, except this snowball is made of warm wet air. Let's watch it from the very beginning.
It all starts with warm water. In late summer, the sun beats down on the ocean until the top layer is bathtub-warm — at least 80°F, or about 27°C. Warm water is the fuel. No warm water, no hurricane. This is why hurricanes are creatures of the tropics and the warm season, and never form over icy seas.
