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Typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes: how these weather systems form

Hurricane Irma is already blasting its way into the record books, but what causes destructive storms like it to build?
Hurricane Irma hitting the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. Photograph: N/via ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

As recovery begins on the islands of the Caribbean and Florida braces itself for an onslaught, Irma has stormed into the record books as the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.

But such weather systems are far from a rarity. Hurricanes are a

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