hurricane

The name commonly given to a tropical cyclone. In official meteorological terminology, this name is applied only to warm-core tropical cyclones that form over the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern part of the North Pacific. On the Saffir-Simpson scale, this generic name is given to each of the five categories into which tropical cyclones are classified, according to their intensity. In the lowest of them - Category 1 -, sustained winds reach a minimum speed of 119 km/h, which sets the threshold above which a tropical storm becomes a hurricane. Only above or at that threshold can a wind properly be called hurricane-force. The official hurricane season begins on June 1 each year and ends on November 30.