Hobbies And Interests
Factors
In order for a tropical storm to happen, a few basic factors must come in to place. An initial storm system is first necessary. Next, the system must encounter lowered atmospheric pressure system and high humidity. The lowering of atmospheric pressure must be significant. This level of pressure drop allows the moist, humid warmth to enter the storm. All of this must happen over the sea as the storm will gain its destructive force from the ocean. Finally, high winds must be present to contribute to the storm.
Formation
Once the pressure drop allows the air to build the storm, the earth's gravity and rotation propel the initial storm to form into a larger tropical storm in the swirling "cyclonic" shape with an eye in the middle. The storms form in circumstances where the surface temperature and the temperature of the ocean are divergent, so that the hot air is propelled by the cooler ocean to fuel the new storm system.
Movement
The movement of a tropical storm is primarily westward. The strong winds necessary for the formation of the storm also contribute to its movement, like something carried downstream in a river. The earth's rotation and magnetic poles force tropical storms to move toward the poles. A tropical storm system happening in the Northern Hemisphere will generally move toward the northern polar pull of the earth. The opposite is true for tropical storms happening in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dissipation
A tropical storm can dissipate in different ways. What needs to happen is for the storm to move completely away from its sources. This can happen when the storm moves over land. Depending on the strength of the storm, it may continue to move over land for hundreds of miles or it may break up more rapidly. The storm can dissipate if it happens to remain in the same area of the ocean for too long or if it moves into an area where the surface temperature of the water is too low for the storm to continue gaining strength.