A hurricane is a very, very large storm that develops over warm ocean waters. The storm gets so huge, it swirls around in a circular motion creating an open area in the middle of it. Hurricanes originate from the warm ocean waters near Africa. They can cross the Atlantic Ocean, coming over to either South America, middle America (the Gulf of Mexico), or the eastern North American coast. A hurricane is so powerful it will pick up everything in its path and swirl it around.

The eye of a hurricane is the middle of a hurricane. This is where the swirling center is located. There are clear, light blue skies. It is calm, very different from the winds surrounding the eye where the clouds are green, everything is flying around, it is scary and loud, and it is raining and hailing hard on you. It is really windy and you can't tell where you are going.

It is safer in the eye than 50' away from it because in the eye it is calm, nothing is going to hit or shatter you like a tree or something else. When you get outside of the eye, the hurricane could kill you. You could get all wet and get struck by lightning and die. You couldn't run away from it because it would blow you right off your feet. It wouldn't let you get up because you're to close to it.

The wind speed of a hurricane can get up to 1,200 miles per hour. That's really fast.

A hurricane can get up to 460 miles in diameter (2,428,800 feet or 809,600 yards). That's really wide!

People can survive by taking cover in a strong shelter, a basement, or even an underground cellar.

The hurricane picks up everything in its path, rips it apart, swirls it around, and then can toss it miles away.

Hurricanes get their names from meteorologists who name them alphabetically.  The first name is a girl's name, then a boy's name, switching them each time.