When local residents of an area refer to a hurricane, they are
speaking of the violent, stormy weather system that brings torrential
rains and destructive, high velocity winds of over 74 miles per hour.
Hurricanes are also characterised by a heavy cloud cover, which
reduces sunshine and makes visibility and temperatures very low. In
other parts of the world, tropical cyclones are given other names. For
example, in Australia they are known as Willy Willies, in India there
are known as Tropical Cyclones and in the Pacific they are known as
Typhoons.
Hurricanes can only form in tropical regions due to their need for
certain atmospheric and weather conditions only found there. Most
hurricanes originate on the west coast of Africa, in the form of
thunderstorms. As these thunderstorms move westwards over the ocean,
they become low-pressure systems; first in the form of tropical
depressions, then tropical storm and then finally hurricanes.
