‘Rapid intensification’ fuels major Atlantic hurricanes in 2017

(CNN) – It usually takes several days to a week for a tropical storm to grow into a hurricane. But if conditions are just right, a powerful major hurricane can develop in just hours.
The process, known as “rapid intensification,” has happened four times in the last month with hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and now Maria. A normal year would only see around two storms rapidly intensify.A storm undergoes rapid intensification when its maximum sustained winds increase at lea