Here are hurricane terms to know ahead of the 2024 season

Center: The vertical axis of a tropical cyclone, usually defined by the location of minimum wind or minimum pressure.

El Niño: The abnormal weather pattern caused by warmer-than-normal water in the central and eastern Pacific along the equator. When the tropical Pacific is warmer than normal, winds at upper levels (about 30,000 feet) of the atmosphere in the tropical Atlantic are stronger than normal, which tears apart hurricanes as they are forming. The strength or weakness of the El Niño pattern can help determine the severity of a hurricane season.

Eye: The relatively calm area in the center of a hurricane. It can range from 5 miles to more than 50 miles wide.

Eye Wall: A doughnut-shaped zone of the highest winds and heavy rain surrounding the eye.

Feeder Bands: Thunderstorms that spiral into and around the center of a tropical system. A typical storm may have three or more bands, usually 40 to 80 miles apart.

Gale Warning: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this is a warning that indicates 1-minute sustained surface winds in the range of 39 mph to 54 mph.

High Wind Warning: NOAA notes that this is issued when 1-minute average surface winds of 40 mph or greater last for one hour or longer, or winds gusting to 58 mph or greater regardless of duration that are either expected or observed over land.

Hurricane Warning: Issued when hurricane conditions—winds of 74 mph or greater—are expected within 36 hours.

Hurricane Watch: Issued when hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours.

Landfall: When the surface center of a tropical cyclone intersects with the coastline.

La Niña: This is the oppositeof El Niño and is marked by cooler-than-average eastern Pacific waters. This pattern can contribute to an increase in Atlantic tropical activity by weakening wind shear, which enables storms to develop and intensify.

Major Hurricane: A storm with winds of 111 mph or higher.

Right Front Quadrant: In our hemisphere, this is the most destructive part of a hurricane, usually having the strongest winds, roughest seas and highest storm surges. This section of the storm is located in the eyewall to the right of the eye, based on the direction in which the storm is traveling.

Small Craft Advisory: A type of wind warning issued by the National Weather Service when winds have reached—or are expected to reach within 12 hours—a speed marginally less than gale force.

Storm Surge: This occurs when ocean water is pushed toward the shore by the force of the winds swirling around the storm. When this advancing surge combines with the normal tides, water levels may increase by 15 feet or more.

Tropical Cyclone: These rotating, organized systems of clouds and thunderstorms originate over warm tropical or subtropical waters and are characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds and heavy rain.

Tropical Depression: This type of storm forms when a low-pressure area is accompanied by thunderstorms producing a circular wind flow with maximum sustained speeds of less than 39 mph. 

Tropical Disturbance: An area of thunderstorms that maintains its intensity for at least 24 hours.

Tropical Storm: A warm-centered, low-pressure circulation with highest sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph.

Wind Shear: Upper-level winds that can blow the tops off hurricanes and prevent vertical development, weakening or destroying them.