28 Hurricane Facts For Kids

1. A hurricane is a powerful tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean or northeastern Pacific Ocean.
2. Hurricanes are one of the deadliest natural disasters on our planet.
3. The birthplace of almost all hurricanes is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, an area that encircles our planet near the thermal equator.
4. A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that has winds that meet or exceed 74 miles per hour.
5. A tropical storm (pre-hurricane) is a tropical cyclone that has wind speeds between 39 and 73 miles per hour.
6. A tropical depression (pre-tropical storm) is a tropical cyclone with wind speeds at or less than 38 miles per hour.
7. A hurricane is made up of primarily two different types of clouds, cumulus, and cumulonimbus. However, other types of clouds can and do form around the exterior, ahead or behind a hurricane.
8. A hurricane can be broken down into three different parts: the eye, the eyewall, and spiral rainbands.
9. The center of a hurricane is called the eye and it’s the blue dot you see in the middle of a hurricane.
10. The eyewall of a hurricane is the region that surrounds the eye and contains the most dangerous winds.
11. The spiral rainbands are the outer part of a hurricane that rotate around it and bring heavy amounts of rain.
12. A hurricane can affect a large geographical region and bring extreme winds, heavy rain, deadly tornadoes, coastal flooding, and storm surges.
13. The deadliest part of a hurricane is the storm surge and flooding it can produce. Most of the hurricane related deaths are caused by the storm surge and supplemental flooding it can create.
14. A hurricane can form when warm water, warm air and large clusters of thunderstorms start to interact and group together as they rotate.
15. A hurricane can go through a process called rapid intensification. This is when a hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speeds increase by at least 35 miles per hour in a 24 hour period.
16. A hurricane begins to dissipate (breakdown) when it makes landfall or reaches cooler water.
17. In the United States, hurricanes are monitored and tracked by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Their goal is to provide weather alerts related to hurricanes and predict where they might make landfall to reduce loss of life.
18. Hurricane watches are issued by the NHC when hurricane strength winds are possible in an area within the next 48 hours.
19. Hurricane warnings are issued by the NHC when hurricane strength winds are expected in an area within the next 36 hours.
20. In addition to hurricane watches and warnings, the NHC issues watches and warnings for tropical storms and storm surges.
21. Hurricanes are classified using the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHW). This hurricane classification system uses wind speeds to determine the strength and intensity of a hurricane.
22. The Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale has five categories, one through five. A category 1 hurricane is the weakest hurricane on the scale, while a category 5 hurricane is the strongest.
23. A category 5 hurricane can bring widespread destruction and death to a massive geographical area. Many of the historic hurricanes throughout history were category 5 hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina was a massive category 5 hurricane in 2005 that killed more than 1,800 people and caused more than $125 billion in property damages and/or losses.
24. A category 1 hurricane can still be deadly and cause a lot of damage. Hurricane Hana was a category 1 hurricane in 2008 that killed more than 500 people and caused $160 million in property damages and/or losses.
25. The deadliest hurricane in U.S. history was the 1900 Galveston hurricane. It formed on August 27th and dissipated on September 15th in 1900. It’s estimated that 6,000 to 8,000 people lost their lives to this deadly category 4 hurricane.
26. Based on historical hurricane records, the deadliest hurricane in world history was the Great Hurricane of 1780. It’s estimated this was likely a category 5 hurricane and resulted in the deaths of 22,000 people in the Lesser Antilles.
27. A common hurricane myth is it’s safe to go outside once the skies start to clear. You need to make sure the hurricane has completely moved on and you’re not just in the eye of the hurricane. Many lives have been lost when people through it was safe to go outside, when they were just in the eye (middle) of a hurricane.
28. There is a lot of hurricane terminology, some commonly known by the public and others only used by professional meteorologists. For example, the term hurricane is only used to describe strong tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean. In the northwest and south Pacific Ocean, along with the Indian Ocean, strong tropical cyclones are called typhoons or severe cyclonic storms.

Hurricane Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on hurricanes. Below are nine pictures of hurricanes and hurricane damage. These pictures should help you better understand the power of this tropical cyclone.

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