Tropical storms

• Tropical storm - an area of low pressure with winds, rain and clouds that move in a spiral around a calm central point called the eye
• Tropical storms are generally found over the oceans and between the tropics. For example, West Australia and Madagascar. However sometimes tropical storms can be found above the tropic such as Japan, that is found above the tropic of cancer.
• Tropical storm formation

  1. The sun warms the ocean to 27 degrees
  2. This draws water up from the ocean.
  3. The water evaporates and condenses to from thunderstorm clouds. As the air condenses it releases heat which powers the storm and draws up more water
  4. Smaller thunderstorms join to form a giant spinning storm
  5. The storm develops an eye. The outer edge is the eyewall (most intense)
  6. The Coriolis effect causes air to to spin upwards around the eye