*sigh*
ok let me explain cold to you.
atoms possess energy and wiggle around a lot depending on how much energy they possess. the keyboard you're typing on? not so solid as you think.
want proof? fill up a balloon a little way with water and put it inside a balloon filled with air. set it up on a bowl or something so the bottom (where the water baloon is resting) is suspended. the water balloon will eventually move through the air balloon. i did it once. it took like a month or two and the air balloon deflated more and more as the air escaped with the water balloon.
anyways.
cold water is not really cold as you state. until atoms reach absolute zero, they mover around. cold is defined in a relative way depending on personal preference. heh.
anyways. as long as water possesses energy, it is possible to transfer this energy to another object, like a hurricane. hurricanes are low pressure systems, something like a weak vaccum. they suck. hehe. they attract energy like crazy. thus, it would follow that they can in fact gain energy from 'cold' water.
our predictions of hurricanes are based on statistical data. we watched a lot of hurricanes and recorded information about them and decided what was likely to happen and what we imagined was possible based purely on past experience. this is not a fixed absolute of what will happen, it's a method of prediction. the only reason we study hurricanes is because they have this nasty habit of killing and breaking stuff. we don't like our stuff broken or killed so we try to figure out where they're going to hit and how hard. that's it. that's all we care about. and that is not really a good strong basis for theory. but alas, it's what we got.
haha i now have five minutes to leave for work. ubershower.