Formation Requires Warm Ocean Water Hurricanes are born over the tropical oceans, where the water temperature is a balmy 26°C ...

When tropical meteorologists calculate using the latent heat of condensation ... cooking up the ferocious winds. "A hurricane is a pretty inefficient heat engine," Landsea says.

Tropical thunderstorms that develop around the center act like carburetors that inject fuel into the eye of the hurricane. The fuel injected into the eye comes in the form of latent heat release ...

Wind shear is often the most critical factor controlling hurricane formation ... Tropical cyclones are heat engines powered by the release of latent heat when water vapor condenses into liquid ...