What caused hurricane Isaac?

Answer 1

Hurricane Isaac developed the same way that many Atlantic hurricanes do. Isaac started as a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 15, 2012. At this point it was just a disorganized low pressure area with some showers and thunderstorms. The moisture that evaporated off the warm ocean water began to feed the storm system, causing it to strengthen and become more organized. Eventually it became organized enough that by August 21 it became Tropical Depression Nine and then strengthened to Tropical Storm Isaac. The storm continued to strengthen, but slowly as the storm ingested some dry air that it was never able to get rid of completely. The storm finally reached hurricane strength over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on August 28 less than 24 hours before making landfall in Louisiana. It would have become a hurricane sooner had it not been fore the dry air.