Why do we have hurricanes?

Some people say hurricanes are sent as divine retribution for man's transgressions, but there are scientific reasons why the deadly forces of nature exist.

Simply put, the storms are the atmosphere's attempt to move heat from the warm equatorial regions toward the cold polar regions said meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University.

Hurricanes — known as typhoons and cyclones in other parts of the world — are giant engines that convert the energy from warm air into powerful winds and waves, according to NASA. That's why they only form over warm ocean waters near the equator.

They also tend to be most intense and frequent in the late summer and early fall, when ocean water is at its hottest, MIT hurricane expert Kerry Emanuel said in an interview with the Annenberg Foundation.

From a physics standpoint, a hurricane is a "heat engine," he said. "It's a massive, natural machine for converting heat energy into mechanical energy — the mechanical energy being the energy of the wind."

They don't just transport heat to the poles: "They also help radiate that heat out of the tropics into space," WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue said.

Klotzbach added the storms also provide a small percentage — around 2% — of global rainfall during the peak months of the hurricane season in late summer and early fall.

He said that while this number seems small, hurricanes can account for 20-25% of rainfall in a specific part of the world, such as areas near the northwestern Pacific.