Hurricanes are huge, scary, and vital to Earth’s systems
A strong storm can transport heat, feed fish, and more
Weather is nature’s attempt to keep the atmosphere in balance. This is true of everything from a gentle winter breeze to a chaotic torrent on a humid summer day.
Scary as they are, hurricanes also serve a role in our global system. These sprawling storms are vital to our planet’s everyday function, balancing out extremes and rejuvenating some ecosystems where they travel.
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Hurricanes transport heat toward the poles
Tremendous temperature gradients divide north from south. Frigid temperatures in the Arctic stand in stark contrast to the perennial mugginess of the tropical latitudes.
Tropical cyclones form and thrive over warm ocean waters. Strong winds evaporate hot water from the ocean’s surface. Water vapour releases that heat when it condenses within the storm itself, providing the instability needed to fuel the cyclone’s growth.
Most tropical systems quickly move toward higher latitudes, dragging with them a significant amount of heat and moisture. This injection of tropical air can fuel heavy rainfall and even alter the jet stream.
One impressive example was Hurricane Humberto in early October 2025. The remnants of the former Category 5 hurricane intensified into a powerful low-pressure system near the British Isles. The formidable storm, named Storm Amy by local forecasters, broke air pressure and wind records across the region.
Hurricanes are vital sources of precipitation
All that moisture flowing north has to fall somewhere, and communities that routinely experience tropical systems come to rely on this extra precipitation during the warm months.
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A 2013 study found that tropical systems are responsible for as much as 20 per cent of all the rain that falls across portions of the southeastern United States during hurricane season.
Downpours from passing tropical systems are so vital to the water cycle in portions of the U.S. and Atlantic Canada, in fact, that a relatively quiet hurricane season can contribute to drought in these regions.
Hurricane also stir the oceans
A powerful storm doesn’t just affect the atmosphere. Intense winds whip up rough seas. This churning motion induces upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters from deeper in the ocean.
Hurricane-induced upwelling can rejuvenate local ecosystems, providing beneficial food and nutrients to everyone from bacteria to birds.
Cooler waters left in the wake of a particularly strong or slow-moving storm can even stifle the development of additional storms in the region.
Header image courtesy of NASA.