This image was taken as sunlight glints off Hurricane Bonnie as it approaches the North Carolina coast.
Hurricanes are products of the tropical ocean and atmosphere.
Powered by heat from the sea, hurricanes are steered by the easterly trade winds and the temperate westerlies as well as by their own ferocious energy. Around their core, winds grow with great velocity, generating violent seas. Moving ashore, they can produce a tremendous storm surge while spawning tornadoes and producing torrential rains and floods. Timely warnings have greatly diminished hurricane fatalities in the United States. NOAA's National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service field offices team up with federal and local agencies, rescue and relief organizations, the private sector, and the news media in the warning and preparedness effort.