Hanna Karenina
Every happy hurricane is the same. Every unhappy hurricane is unhappy in its own way .............. with apology to Leo Tolstoy Despite its brutish nature, a tropical cyclone is a delicate creature, especially in its formative days. The seed can be a somewhat simple thing - a nice tropical wave, or perhaps a remnent low from a cold front - a bit of low pressure and a bit of spin. As with humans, conception is the fun and easy part, but managing growth and development is tougher. A lot of things need to be just right. For nutrition, our baby needs nice warm ocean water, a whole lot of it, the warmer and deeper the better. A good latitude is also critical - too close to the equator and you are in the no spin zone. It needs at least ten degrees from the equator to get some good rotation on, and of course if it is too far from the equator, there just isn't any warm enough water. Those basics are just the environment, though. Baby H also needs to fire up its own convection - some...