Hurricane Hunters reveal 4 warning signs that a storm is about to strengthen

Tropical cyclones generally need to become vertically organized before they can grow much stronger. That means the storm's rotating centers at different levels of the atmosphere must line up rather than remain tilted away from one another.

Using nearly three decades of observations from NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft, researchers have now identified four features that appear to help tilted tropical cyclones become vertically aligned and more capable of intensifying.

The research was led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, working with colleagues at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. Their findings suggest that successful alignment depends on several factors working together, including the storm's internal structure, the direction of surrounding winds, and environmental conditions around the cyclone.