Context:

Hurricane Beryl causes ‘immense destruction’ in the Caribbean islands.

More on the news

• Hurricane Beryl is the earliest category 4 storm – sustaining winds of at least 130 miles per hour (209 kilometres perhour) – to mark the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season this year.
• The National Hurricane Center said “Beryl Becomes a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane In the Eastern Caribbean.
• The National Hurricane Centre’s advisory has forecasted “life-threatening winds and storm surge” in the Windfall Islands. 
• Beryl is the strongest storm to impact the Windward Islands since Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

What are hurricanes? 

• A hurricane is a type of storm called a tropical cyclone, they are low-pressure systems with organized thunderstorm activity that forms over tropical or subtropical waters. They gain their energy from warm ocean waters.
• Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones are all the same type of storm. In the North Atlantic and central and eastern North Pacific, these storms are called “hurricanes.”
• A tropical cyclone is a rotating low-pressure weather system that has organized thunderstorms but no fronts (a boundary separating two air masses of different densities). 
• The trade winds (which blow from east to west) push the hurricane toward the west—toward the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, or the southeastern coast of the U.S.

How do hurricanes form?

• When the warm, moist air rises upward from the surface of the ocean, it creates an area of low air pressure below. Air from the surrounding areas rushes to fill this place, eventually rising when it becomes warm and moist too.

Characteristics of the hurricanes. 

• When wind speeds within such a storm reach 74 mph, it’s classified as a hurricane.
• The storm is at least 50,000 feet high and around 125 miles across.
• The eyes of the hurricane are around 5 to 30 miles wide.