Hurricane the Anatomy

This episode explores the search for hurricane scientists' "holy grail", seeking to understand the dangerous increases in storm power called rapid intensification. As the story develops, we explore what hurricanes are, how they are formed, and how the specialists try to predict whether the next storm will blow over or blow the roof off.

While humans try to predict the future, the natural world has evolved over millions of years to deal with the strongest storms on earth. Some creatures run, others hide. This episode looks at varying strategies used by plants and animals that live in the hurricane zone, and shows how they cope with the annual onslaught.

For millennia, hurricanes have threatened the Eastern coast of the USA, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America. Now, changes to global climate have serious consequences for the future: rising sea-levels mean that storm surge from hurricanes will impact ever further inland. With coastal habitats and natural defenses, such as coral reefs, irretrievably damaged, the future appears bleak.