The natural dampener for hurricanes is historically, when storms get strong enough, they begin to churn up cooler water from deeper levels, which limits development.
The super hurricanes of recent years, like Storm Haiyan in 2013, saw unbridled development as they road over water that was warm to depth. Churning only brought more energy to the surface, fueling the storm.
This year, 80 degree water in the Caribbean to a depth of 300 feet.
“as they *rode over water”