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Hurricane Basics Hurricane Awareness Week The ingredients for a
hurricane include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm
tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds aloft. If
the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to
produce the violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains,
and floods we associate with this phenomenon. Each year, an
average of 3-4 tropical cyclones will affect the Central
Pacific. An average of ten tropical storms develop over the
Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Many of these
remain over the ocean and never impact the U.S. coastline. Six
of these storms become hurricanes each year. In an average
3-year period, roughly five hurricanes strike the US coastline,
killing approximately 50 to 100 people anywhere from Texas to
Maine. Of these, two are typically "major" or "intense"
hurricanes (a category 3 or higher storm on the Saffir-Simpson
Hurricane Scale). What is a Hurricane? A hur