Book 1, Question 67
Why Do Hurricanes Spin? Ocean Heat and Earth's Twist!
Hurricanes are powered by warm ocean water. Heat makes moist air rise, which creates low pressure, and cooler air rushes in to take its place. Earth's rotation makes the winds curve and twist, called the Coriolis effect, which turns the storm into a spinning cyclone. The page says the quiet eye of a hurricane can be tens of kilometers wide, with fierce winds swirling around it. Stir a cup of water to see how things swirl.
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 1
More fun facts
- Hurricanes get their spin from the Coriolis force, which comes from Earth being round and spinning.
- The Coriolis force turns moving air to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
- The Coriolis force is strongest near the poles and zero at the equator.
- That is why hurricanes almost never form right at the equator.
- In the western Pacific Ocean, hurricanes are called typhoons.
- In December 2001, a typhoon formed very close to the equator. It surprised scientists, because textbooks said storms like that do not form there.
- Cool ocean currents, like the Benguela Current off southwest Africa, keep some coasts too cold for hurricanes.
Sources: NASA Science, NASA
Questions kids ask
Why don't hurricanes form at the equator?
The Coriolis force, which gives storms their spin, is zero at the equator.
What is a typhoon?
It is the name for a hurricane in the western Pacific Ocean.