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What Is a Hurricane? Warm Water, Spin, and Storm Surge

October 21, 2026October 18, 2026 by Marcus Webb
Ocean waves crashing

A hurricane is a machine for moving heat from the ocean into the atmosphere. Everything else — the eye, the spiral bands, the 150 mph winds — follows from that one job. What is a hurricane, stripped to the definition, is a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of at least 74 mph. The Naming Rules … Read more

Categories Earth & Environment Tags hurricanes, storms, weather Leave a comment

What Is a Tornado? Rotation, Funnels, and the EF Scale

October 18, 2026 by Marcus Webb
Ocean waves crashing

Every tornado is attached to a thunderstorm. Almost no thunderstorms produce one. That gap — thousands of storms, roughly 1,200 tornadoes a year in the United States — is the whole puzzle. What is a tornado, then, beyond a funnel in a photograph? The Definition A tornado is a violently rotating column of air in … Read more

Categories Earth & Environment Tags storms, tornadoes, weather Leave a comment

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