This process gets water into the air, but the storm’s rotation—the high winds characteristic of a hurricane—is dependent on the Coriolis force caused by the earth’s rotation. The Coriolis force is zero at the equator and increases toward the poles. Hurricanes can form only in the band that is far enough away from the equator (at least three hundred miles) to get spin going, but close enough to the equator that the water temperature is at least 80°. The storm’s rotation pulls even more air into the region of lower pressure.
