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Hurricanes are large tropical storms that form over warm oceans during the warm season months of June through November. Hurricanes are low pressure systems that form near the equator where hot moist air spirals upward around the lowest pressure area in the system, the eye of the storm. This moist air is heated, or fueled by the sun, and makes the system spin faster around the eye of the storm. Hurricanes gain strength and wind speed when the moist hot air spins faster around the eye, center of the storm. A hurricane's strength is measured on a scale called the Saffir Simpson Scale which puts a storm in one of five different strength categories. Hurricanes are strong and dangerous storms that are watched carefully by scientists called meteorologists. If a hurricane is predicted to strike land, then the communities in the prediction zone prepare for the coming storm. These powerful tropical systems are interesting to study, but you wouldn't want to be caught in the path of one.

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Text Citations: NOAA: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html