The term hurricane is derived from Huracan, a god of evil recognized by the Tainos, an ancient aboriginal tribe from Central America.

Hurricanes are often described as a heat engine. The Energy that drives a hurricane comes from solar heat that was stored in the ocean . The hurricane sucks in warm, humid air from the lower atmosphere. The air was heated by the sun and moisture from the sea has evaporated into the air. As the air is warm it rises and the water vapor condenses, releasing the heat energy that the moisture absorbed as it evaporated from the ocean.

The storm exhausts its supply of heat (water vapor) when it moves over land or colder water.

Hurricane intensity is based upon the highest sustained (1 minute average) wind speed the hurricane is producing. The "Saffir-Simpson" scale rates hurricane strength in this way from Category 1 to Category 5. These categories were chosen based upon the amount of damage that each category can produce.

As winds increase to 63 kilometers (39 miles) per hour, storm receives a name. This tradition started with the use of World War II vintage code names such as Able, Baker, Charlie, etc. In 1953, female names were used exclusively until the late 1970s, when storm names began to be alternated between male and female names.

In a day, a hurricane can release an amount of energy equal to all of the electricity the entire world can generate in 200 days! A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x10¹³ watts. This heat released is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes.

A hurricane releases more energy in 10 minutes, than all the world's nuclear weapons combined.