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A storm achieves hurricane status when its winds exceed 118 km (74 miles) per hour. By the time a storm reaches hurricane intensity, it usually has a well-developed eye. In the eyewall (or the eye of the storm), warm air spirals upwards, creating the hurricane's strongest winds. The speed of the winds in the eyewall is related to the winds in the eye. Just as ice skaters spin faster when they pull their arms in, a hurricane's winds blow faster if its eye is small. If the eye widens, the winds decrease. Heavy rains fall from the eyewall and from bands of dense clouds that swirl around the eyewall. These bands, called rainbands, can produce more than 5 cm (2 ins) of rain per hour. the hurricane draws large amounts of heat and moisture from the sea.
fact file
The end of a hurricane comes quickly if a hurricane moves over land, because it no longer receives heat energy and moisture from warm tropical water.
resources: Tell me what (Chancellor Press)
image 1: https://fthmb.tqn.com/nbOnQmOVuBRGF0OwRw4yLKXaneU=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/RITA_EYEWALL_VIS-56a9e29c3df78cf772ab3972.jpg
image 2: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/10/08/matthew-storm-a7c91b63240762b94d2d182934eb945b16ffe3bb-s900-c85.jpg
