Only tropical cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern and central Pacific Ocean are called "hurricanes."
Whatever they are called, tropical cyclones all form the same way.
They are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel
As this warmer, moister air rises, there is less air left near the Earth's surface.
Essentially, as this warm air rises, this causes an area of lower air pressure below.
This starts the 'engine' of the storm.
To fill in the low pressure area, air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes in.
That "new" air near the Earth's surface also gets heated by the warm ocean water so it also gets warmer and moister and then it rises.
As the warm air continues to rise, the surrounding air swirls in to take its place.
The whole system of clouds and wind spins and grows, fed by the ocean's heat and water evaporating from the surface.
As the storm system rotates faster and faster, an eye forms in the centre
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being "fed" by the energy from the warm ocean waters, the scientists explained.
However, when they move inland, they can drop many inches of rain, causing flooding as well as wind damage before they die out completely
There are 5 types, or categories, of hurricanes
The scale of categories is called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale and they are based on wind speed
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