how do hurricanes eventually stop?

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They don’t go on forever otherwise the earth would be covered in them right?!

In: Planetary Science

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Hurricanes are fueled by warm water. When they drop into warmer waters (usually in the tropics) they get stronger. When they enter cooler water away from the tropics or make landfall, the storm looses intensity (heat) and eventually breaks up.

Hurricanes also follow ocean currents. The Atlantic gulf stream pulls warm water from the tropics up along Florida so storms intensify before landfall on the eastern seaboard. on the west coast, the ocean current pull down cold water from the arctic regions, so it’s rare for Hurricanes to make landfall in California since they weaken. Plus the trade winds blow the storms out into the pacific towards Hawaii, Guam and Japan.

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