Important information you will need this hurricane season

As we approach the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1, the team at Weather & Radar is kicking hurricane operations into full gear.

To help you prepare for the season and get the most out of each forecast update, it's important to understand how hurricanes form, the naming convention of tropical cyclones and the icons we are using to describe them.

Hurricanes usually have their origins over the warm waters of the tropical oceans. They typically start as a disorganized cluster of thunderstorms along a tropical wave or a front. If conditions are favorable, the storms will continue to tap into the moisture-providing warm water and intensify.

As the storms get stronger, they will increase instability around them which leads to even more thunderstorms and a feedback loop develops. You can see this currently happening on the Weather&Radar just south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

As the feedback process continues, the thunderstorm cluster becomes more organized and is eventually labeled a “tropical disturbance.” When identifying tropical disturbances, meteorologists look for organized storm activity that maintains its structure for at least 24 hours.

If atmospheric conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance will continue to strengthen. Once wind speeds reach 30 mph, the system is labeled a tropical depression. At this point, the infamous spin in the lower levels is usually observed at the surface.

If its maximum sustained winds reach at least 39 mph and up to 73 mph, it is labeled a tropical storm. Usually, tropical storms have a much better defined cyclonic pattern, with the winds and storms closer to their center. Storms are also named by the National Hurricane Center when they acquire tropical storm status.

Once the maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph, the system is now a hurricane. Categories are given based on the maximum sustained wind speed of the storm using the Saffir-Simpson scale. A category five hurricane has wind speeds that exceed 155 mph or more and can cause catastrophic damage and storm surge.