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The next several years an experiment was carried out in which a balloon radio signal was released in hurricane's eye and the wind center was tracked slightly. The plan also involved setting up upper-air stations around the Caribbean and installing radars in American coastal locations. Photographing hurricanes from low flying rockets was made obsolete by the creation of weather satellites. In 1958, meteorologists flew twenty-three missions and thought that it was their most productive year, Unfortunately, at the end of 1958's hurricane season the Air Force withdrew their aircrafts from the "project" and Dr. Simpson left the head position to become the director of STORMFURY. .
A hurricane is a powerful storm that measures several hundred miles in diameter. Hurricanes have two main parts. The first is the eye of the hurricane, which is a calm area in the center of the storm. Usually, the eye of a hurricane measures about 20 miles in diameter, and has very few clouds. The second part is the wall of clouds that surrounds the calm eye. This is where the hurricane's strongest winds and heaviest rain occur. Hurricanes are born over warm, tropical oceans. Hurricanes are fueled by water vapor that is pushed up from the warm ocean surface, so they can last longer and sometimes move much further over water than over land. The combination of heat and moisture, along with the right wind conditions, can create a new hurricane. The winds near the center of a hurricane blow at speeds of 74 miles per hour or more (World Book, 400).
According to the research team at Storm Central, hurricanes go through a set of stages from birth to dissipation. Tropical disturbance is the beginning of a hurricane, and it has no strong winds or closed isobars around an area of low pressure containing cloudiness and some precipitation. As the surface pressure begins to fall and winds increase to between 20 and 34 knots the tropical disturbances become tropical depressions.
