

Find out how hurricanes can be so destructive.

", "is_us_only": "false", "title": "Hurricanes 101", "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/hurricanes/hurricanes-101/", "country_code_deny_list": [], "allowUserEmbed": "True", "related": { "link": [ { "url": "http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/hurricanes.html", "name": "See Hurricane Photos" }, { "url": "http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/hurricane-profile.html", "name": "Learn More About Hurricanes" } ] }, "credit": "National Geographic", "smil": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/data/xml/hurricanes-101.smil", "country_code_allow_list": [], "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/hurricanes-101/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", "still": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/exposure/transcode/0/480/360/?url=http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/media/hurricanes-101/hurricanes-101_480x360.jpg", "transcript": "

Violent winds\u2026driving rain\u2026 killer waves.\u00a0 These are the hallmarks of a hurricane.\u00a0 Also called cyclones or typhoons, hurricanes are giant storms prowling the world\u2019s tropical seas.

an average hurricane releases as much energy in a day as the explosion of half a million small atomic bombs.

Hurricanes form in the summer and fall, when the sun heats vast stretches of tropical ocean to over 82 degrees.\u00a0 Warm, moist air rises over these hot spots, creating thunderstorms.\u00a0 Upper level winds and surface winds then come together, forming a circular pattern of clouds known as a tropical depression. When the winds exceed 39 miles per hour, a tropical storm has developed.\u00a0 when the winds reach 74 miles per hour, a hurricane is officially born.

Inside the storm, bands of rain up to 300 miles long meet in the eye wall, the most violent section.\u00a0 Here, winds of up to 200 miles per hour spiral upward.\u00a0\u00a0 Warm, moist air is drawn up from the ocean\u2019s surface, feeding the storm.

Within the center of the hurricane, downdrafts of dry air create a strangely calm area called the eye. fully formed, a hurricane may stretch over 500 miles in diameter\u2026 a storm nearly the size of texas\u2026 and reach a height of 9 miles.

Most of these storms spin out over the open sea.\u00a0 BUT in an average year, two or three will strike the mainland of North America.\u00a0 When they do, the damage can be catastrophic.

Most dangerous is the storm surge, a wall of water that sweeps across the coastline where a hurricane makes landfall.

About 45,000 people were killed by hurricanes in the 20th century, including some 15,000 in the United States.

hurricanes are also costly in dollars. 1992\u2019s Hurricane Andrew was the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history, causing more than 25 billion dollars worth of damage.

Scientists are searching for better ways to predict the path of a hurricane.\u00a0 Special planes called \u201churricane hunters\u201d fly directly into these monster storms and drop sensors to measure wind speed, temperature and air pressure\u2026 providing vital clues to the hurricane\u2019s direction.

New 3-D models are also helping scientists understand this awesome force of nature\u2026 and provide quicker and more accurate warnings to anyone unlucky enough to be caught in its path.

", "id": "hurricanes-101" } }