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Cold, Dry Planets could have a Lot of Hurricanes

Dust storms on Mars could behave similarly to dry cyclones. (NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems photo) 

Study overturns conventional wisdom that water is needed to create cyclones. Nearly every atmospheric science textbook ever written will say that hurricanes are an inherently wet phenomenon – they use warm, moist air for fuel. But according to new simulations, the storms can also form in very cold, dry climates.

A climate as cold and dry as the one in the study is unlikely to ever become the norm on Earth, especially as climate change is making the world warmer and wetter. But the findings could have implications for storms on other planets and for the intrinsic properties of hurricanes that most scientists and educators currently believe to be true.

“We have theories for how hurr...

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