How does cyclone develop

The two GOES satellites keep their eyes on hurricanes from far above Earth's surface—22, miles above, to be exact! Learn more about this kind of orbit. These satellites, built by NASA and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA , save lives by helping weather forecasters predict and warn people where and when these severe storms will hit land. Our World: What is a Hurricane? Here is a movie of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the coast of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi on August 29, , as a Category 3.

This movie was made from images taken by the GOES weather satellite. In the movie you can see the storm starting to form in the Atlantic on August 24 and becoming more and more organized as it moves over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. How Do Hurricanes Form? Hurricane Fran. Image made from GOES satellite data. Click to view movie. If you liked this, you may like: Orbits 'R' Us! Printed Product Downloads. More Less. The cloud free centre of subsiding air, which is often dry with little wind, is referred to as the eye.

There is a relatively small area of intense horizontal winds at the surface, often well over m. The energy which drives a tropical cyclone is transferred as warm water is evaporated from the tropical ocean.

This release of heat energy warms the air and the pressure decreases further resulting in air rising faster to fill the area of low pressure.

As the air rises; warmer, moist air from the ocean is driven into the system creating further energy and resulting in the tropical cyclone becoming a self- sufficient system. If the tropical cyclone travels over land, the energy source tropical ocean is lost which results in the eventual breakdown of the storm.

This relatively small amount of mechanical energy equates to a power supply of 1. When the water vapor from the warm ocean condenses to form clouds, it releases its heat to the air. The warmed air rises and is pulled into the column of clouds.

Evaporation and condensation continue, building the cloud columns higher and larger. A pattern develops, with the wind circulating around a center like water going down a drain. As the moving column of air encounters more clouds, it becomes a cluster of thunderstorm clouds, called a tropical disturbance. As the thunderstorm grows higher and larger, the air at the top of the cloud column is cooling and becoming unstable. As the heat energy is released from the cooling water vapor, the air at the top of the clouds becomes warmer, making the air pressure higher and causing winds to move outward away from the high pressure area.

This movement and warming causes pressures at the surface to drop. Then air at the surface moves toward the lower pressure area, rises, and creates more thunderstorms.

Winds in the storm cloud column spin faster and faster, whipping around in a circular motion. When the winds reach between 25 and 38 mph, the storm is called a tropical depression. When the wind speeds reach 39 mph, the tropical depression becomes a tropical storm. This is also when the storm gets a name.