Hurricane Wilma
November 24, 2015
Geology 1401

Introducion: Cyclones, Hurricanes, and Typhoons, these cyclonic storms are known by many names but are all born from the same mechanism: low pressure systems. Also known as depressions. Thankfully, most hurricanes form only during hurricane season, which is from June 1st to November 30th. Within this season about 85 percent of the most intense hurricanes and 60 percent of minor Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes originate from African easterly waves (NOAA Cyclone Report). These waves, which have a wavelength of 2000 to 2500 kilo-meters, originate close to or from the highlands of Ethiopia, Africa. Not all easterly waves become hurricanes, but the ones that do travel through Africa thousands of miles in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean. On the way to the Atlantic Ocean these waves transform into a cluster of thunder storms. Once these clusters reach the Atlantic Ocean, the warm humid air from the sea allows them to expand while also escalating their intensity. Due to wind direction and the Coriolis Effect the thunder storm begins to rotate along its centre, forming a tropical depression. As the circular rotations of a tropical depression become progressively more organized, they form a tropical storm. By this point, the heat of the ocean only serves to intensify the power of a tropical storm. The moment winds within reach 119 kilo-meters per hour or more, is the storm then defined as a hurricane. Hurricanes in the Caribbean and East Pacific Ocean form from low pressure areas created by evaporating ocean water and follow the same pattern to becoming a hurricane as those in the Atlantic. Although we understand how hurricanes form, we can’t always predict exactly when they will form, their path, and how quickly they will move. With a speed of 119-153 kilo-meters per hour for a