The University of Illinois has produced an excellent hurricane module. Several of the figures below were borrowed from this module. Development of a hurricane. Begins as a low-level disturbance. In the Atlantic, hurricanes often evolve from an easterly wave, large undulations or ripples in the normal trade wind pattern.
Convergence occurs upwind of a ridge, causing rising motion.
A tropical disturbance may develop- pressure lowers and begins to rotate cyclonically. If the tropical disturbance develops to where there is a closed isobar on a weather map, the disturbance is called a tropical depression . The tropical depression may intensity. Further development, including pronounced rotation around a core and intensified winds, may lead to a hurricane. Source of sensible and latent heat.