Where the facts come from
Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This is the full list.
How we checked
We only use official weather and science sources: the US National Hurricane Center and other parts of NOAA, NASA, the Met Office and the World Meteorological Organization. Each fact was written alongside its source. Our build script stores the source text and, for every fact, checks that the key words and figures really appear in it. 172 of 172 checks passed when this site was last built (31 Oct 2026). Where we couldn’t find one of those sources saying it, we left the claim out.
Things that change
Some figures are averages, lists or records that get updated, such as season averages, the 2026 name list and retired names. These are marked “checked 31 Oct 2026” so you know how fresh they are. Where two sources put something differently, we show both and say who says what.
The games
Build a hurricane uses NOAA JetStream’s and the Met Office’s ingredients; the storm pictures and timings are made up by the game. Category Catcher uses the National Hurricane Center’s category bands; the wind speeds are made up each round. The Hurricane Ready Dash answers come from the NOAA and National Hurricane Center pages below.
All sources (28)
- Met Office: Brown ocean effect (2 facts)
- Met Office: Dangers of tropical cyclones (2 facts)
- Met Office: Development of tropical cyclones (4 facts)
- Met Office: How are hurricanes named? (5 facts)
- Met Office: Location of tropical cyclones (12 facts)
- Met Office: Measuring tropical cyclones (2 facts)
- Met Office: Tropical cyclone warnings (4 facts)
- Met Office: What are hurricanes? (6 facts)
- NASA Space Place: How do hurricanes form? (9 facts)
- NOAA Aircraft Operations: Hurricane Hunters (5 facts)
- NOAA Education: Hurricanes (15 facts)
- NOAA JetStream: Tropical cyclone introduction (22 facts)
- NOAA JetStream: Tropical weather (1 fact)
- NOAA Ocean Service: Hurricane or typhoon? (6 facts)
- NOAA Ocean Service: Hurricane watch or warning? (5 facts)
- NOAA Ocean Service: What is a hurricane? (3 facts)
- NOAA Ocean Service: Why do we name storms? (2 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: FAQ (2 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Glossary (7 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Hurricane hazards (9 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Hurricane history (2 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Most intense US hurricanes 1851–2004 (2 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (10 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Storm surge overview (7 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Tropical cyclone climatology (12 facts)
- National Hurricane Center: Tropical cyclone names (7 facts)
- WMO: Tropical cyclone (6 facts)
- WMO: Tropical cyclone naming (3 facts)