Hurricane Structure

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Weather Glossary
Hurricanes can sometimes be 500 miles wide, but most are about 300 miles wide. Meteorologists have given names to the different parts of a hurricane.
The eye of a hurricane is pretty much empty. The winds of the hurricane spin so fast that the clouds are thrown to the edges of the eye. The edges of the eye are made up of this swirling clouds that spin around the eye. Those edges are called the eye wall because they are made up of a wall of clouds. Other clouds circle the eye, but are farther away from the eye. They are called Rain bands because they move in a circular pattern around the storm and bring the rain in bands of clouds. The winds of a hurricane are strongest in the eye wall, but dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes are inside the eye wall and the outside rain bands.
			The eye of a hurricane is usually from 20-40 miles across. It is pretty calm with very weak winds blowing inside the eye. When the first eye wall passes, the winds will blow from the southwestern side of the storm. After the eye passes and the second eye wall passes, then winds will blow from the opposite direction.
The rain bands that spin around the eye of a hurricane usually get weaker the farther out you go from the center of the storm. Hurricane force winds usually extend only a short distance from the eye, but winds inside the rainbands can reach hurricane strength. Most winds in the rain bands are tropical force strength, 75 miles per hour or less.
					You can see the difference in size between hurricane Danny on the left and hurricane George on the right.
The path of a storm is determined by what are called steering currents. These currents are made by passing high and low pressure fronts, and the jetstream.

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Photographic Citations: Photographic citations can be found by passing the mouse over the photograph.

Text Citations: NOAA: http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/prepare/structure.htm

Animation Citation: http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/prepare/structure.htm