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All hurricanes have a central eye, where no extreme weather occurs, surrounded by intense winds and thunderstorms.

Findings

Additional insights we found via MinuteEarth

  1. The eye of a hurricane is thought to form similarly to the vortex created when water circles the drain, except that the air in a hurricane spirals upward.

  2. Because fluids, like all objects, possess inertia—that is, the tendency to continue moving in a straight line—it becomes more difficult to quickly turn air or water as it moves faster, such as when a hurricane intensifies, and because it cannot make as tight a turn, a gap develops in the center.

  3. While the formation of a gap in a hurricane is often attributed to an outward-pushing force—the centrifugal force—the accurate explanation is that there is insufficient inward-pulling force—the low-pressure eye—to constrain the inertia of the rapidly moving air.

  4. The eye of a hurricane can be about 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the surrounding eyewall because air sinking into the low-pressure eye from above compresses the air below it, causing it to heat up and dry out, thereby dissipating clouds and creating clear skies.

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