Tumble Science Podcast for Kids · Tumble Media

Why Is It Calm in the Eye of a Hurricane?

April 25, 2025·23 min·2 clips

Shirley Murillo explains how Hurricane Katrina's eye wall replacement cycle signaled its devastating power.

This episode of Tumble answers listener Lydia's question about why the eye of a hurricane is calm, featuring meteorologist and hurricane hunter Shirley Murillo. Hosts Lindsay and Marshall guide the conversation with Shirley, who researches hurricanes by flying directly into them. Shirley grew up in Miami and was motivated to study meteorology after experiencing Hurricane Andrew as a teenager. Shirley explains that hurricanes require specific ingredients to form: warm ocean water, warm moist air, a cluster of thunderstorms, and wind conditions in the atmosphere that are "just right." She compares hurricane formation to baking a cake, calling the result a "hurricake." The calm eye forms because thunderstorms create walls that trap air, causing it to sink in the center where the pressure is lower. Shirley flies on a specially equipped "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft, which she describes as a loud, roller-coaster-like flying science laboratory filled with computers bolted to racks. The episode details Shirley's mission into Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where she acted like a detective gathering data clues. She observed Katrina undergo an "eyewall replacement cycle," where an outer ring of thunderstorms collapses the existing eye and forms a new one, a sign of rapid intensification. Katrina strengthened to a Category 5 storm, and Shirley's team sent their data to forecasters to help issue warnings. Shirley recalls her childhood during Hurricane Andrew, where she found a streetlight cover in her yard, illustrating the storm's power. A surprising insight is that hurricane hunters sometimes get motion sickness during their turbulent flights. Shirley, one of the few Latinas in her field, initially felt isolated in college but found community with other students who shared her background. The eye's condition, like its size changes during an eyewall replacement, provides critical clues about a storm's intensity. Lydia, the question-asker, concludes she wouldn't want to be a hurricane hunter because flying into a storm seems scary. The tone is educational and conversational, using playful analogies like baking cakes and detective work to explain complex science. It incorporates narrative storytelling through Shirley's personal and professional experiences. Young science enthusiasts and children curious about weather or extreme natural phenomena would love this episode. Listeners seeking a highly technical, adult-oriented scientific lecture might find it too simplistic or playful.

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