The calm, clear center of a hurricane is called the eye.
The eye is usually a roughly circular region of relatively light winds and reduced rainfall at the center of the storm. In a strong hurricane, sinking air inside the eye suppresses cloud formation, which can produce remarkably clear skies even while the most violent weather rages nearby.
The eye is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms containing the hurricane’s strongest sustained winds and heaviest rain. As the eyewall passes over a location, conditions can change suddenly from destructive winds to unusual calm, then back to violent weather from the opposite side.
The calm does not mean the hurricane is over. People sometimes mistake the eye for the storm’s entire center or confuse it with the eyewall. The eye is the relatively quiet interior; the eyewall is the dangerous ring around it. Eyes vary greatly in size and can weaken, contract, or be replaced during eyewall cycles.