In the story, Sea Fangs, disaster strikes the crew of the Bonito when a hurricane brews in the Caribbean. While you may have heard of hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons, you may not have realized that these are all the same thing. A hurricane is a very strong storm that forms over a sea near the equator that has warmed, and is moving towards the north or south poles. For a hurricane to form, the surface water has to be more than 80 degrees F. The hurricane winds swirl around a calm central zone, called the eye (probably where the term the "eye of the storm" comes from) which is walled by tall, dark clouds called the eyewall. The size of the eye can vary from 10 to 40 miles in diameter and strangely is free of rain. It is the large variations in pressure from the eye of the hurricane to the walls that creates the strongest hurricane winds which can go anywhere from 75 up to 200 miles an hour, and extend nearly 250 miles out. Hurricanes have different names, specific to the region in which they occur: HURRICANE: This name is used when they happen over the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico or the Northeast Pacific Ocean. TYPHOON: This name is used if they occur in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, west of the International Date Line. TROPICAL CYCLONE: This name is used if they occur near Australia and in the Indian Ocean. Hurricanes typically occur in warm summer months and early fall.