The United States has kept track of hurricane paths since 1871. The Army Signal Corps monitored the weather until the birth of the U.S. Weather Bureau, which later became the National Weather Service in 1970. Back in the 1800s, much of our information came from ships that traveled to and from the Caribbean. The first recorded hurricane in 1871 formed near the Florida Keys and moved west into Texas. Of the six storms that year, four of them affected Florida and Georgia.
Hurricanes start over warm ocean water.
Hurricanes start over the oceans and die once they move over land, although they can do a lot of damage even as they weaken. Hurricanes are very, very large. Tornadoes are much smaller events, usually lasting only a short time and covering only a small area, but they are very, very violent winds. Tornadoes need the collision of very warm moist air and very dry cold air and some upper-level winds to act like a chimney to move energy away from the storm. A tornado starts as a thunderstorm and then turns into a funnel cloud.