How to track a hurricane
Hurricanes, also known as cyclones or typhoons, are huge, devastating tropical storms that can be up to 600 miles wide. They have strong, forceful winds that spiral inward and upward circling around the “eye” of the storm. Inside the eye, there are clear skies and light winds, however, surrounding the eye wall there are bands of wind and rain that spread out for over hundreds or thousands of miles. Hurricanes begin as tropical disturbances over warm ocean water (27°c or 80°F) and gathers heat and energy as it moves across the ocean. As evaporation from the ocean water increases its power, it changes into a tropical depression (wind speeds of less than 38 mph), then tropical storm (wind speeds of 39-73 mph) to finally a hurricane (wind speeds greater than 75mph). Hurricanes can last two weeks or more over open water and moves about 10-20 miles per hour. The safety of millions of people depends on the meteorologists and their ability to track these storms. Hurricanes may not be dangerous over open water, but are devastating when they hit land. They can cause torrential rains, high winds and storm surges as well as tornadoes, flash floods and land slides. Without warning of these hurricanes approaching, millions could die. The most effective tools meteorologists use are satellite images, radar and aircraft reconnaissance to study and warn people of approaching hurricanes.
Satellite imagery is one of the helpful tools meteorologists use to provide information on hurricanes. They give accurate photos every 30 minutes as images from the satellite are taken about 22,000 miles above the equator. Satellites capture images of visible clouds and air circulation patterns that help to track, observe...
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All that which lives must grow and flourish, and so too did the storm grow and flourish. The ocean itself nourished the fledgling storm, for all hurricanes derive their energy from the evaporation of water from the ocean surface. The wind itself powered the hurricane, as all parents seek to raise their children above themselves. With such sustenance, the cyclone swiftly deepened Longshore. Yet as all younglings do, the hurricane drifted away from its progenitors.
This is extremely dangerous. Technology is so far advanced, it is unneccisary for a human being to risk his or her life for data that can be found a simpler and safer way. In paragraph 4, Ralph O'Hair describes the intence winds that beat and endanger the plane "like a stick in a dog's mouth." It must be very unnerving, to be thrown around like that. The reason for brave pilots to do this now is explained in paragraph 10, "As it flies through the eyewall and the hurricane's center, the airplane launches dropsondes, small instruments attached to parachutes. The devices fall to the ocean and transmit bursts of data to the airplane twice every second. The data includes temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, as well as the speed and direction of winds." It is neccisary for scientist and meteorologist to come up with a safer way to collect
Perks, Alan R. "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why." Canadian Consulting Engineer, 48.6 (2007): 10.
Leading up to the hurricane, many scientists expected the storm to dissipate over the ocean and cause little to no harm (Rappaport). The scientists were relying on faulty equipment that said that due to slow air speed and l...
Hurricanes are born over the warm waters of tropical oceans and are formed by a low-pressure system caused by the heating of water. The heat causes the air to rise and form lower pressures in a feedback loop, making the hurricane stronger. Heavy rain results from a condensation of water and strong winds develop from warm air rushing to the eye of the hurricane. Essentially, greater storms and winds occur when the hurricane feeds of the rising temperature of the water. In addition, researchers studied disturbances and intense thunderstorms in the atmosphere over Western Africa and believe they are partly to blame for extreme hurricanes affecting the United States and Canada. While these are all the main ingredients of a perfectly natural process, they were not the primary causes of the damage done by Hurricane
Hurricanes are formed over tropical waters. These intense storms consist of winds over 74 miles per hour (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011). The storms addressed here are Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. This paper will explore the contrasts and comparisons between these two horrific storms.
A hurricane is easily the most powerful storm that mother nature can throw at us. Every year, people who live on the coasts fight hurricanes with no dismay. A hurricane is simply too strong. Their winds reach speeds of 75 mph. Winds around the eye wall can reach 130 to 150 mph.
Zimmermann, Kim A. "Hurricane Katrina: Facts, Damage and Aftermath." Live Science. N.p., 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Tropical cyclones are always generally severe, wherever they occure. Despite this, certain conditions can make the comsequences of the cyclone more severe. For example, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis were both of similar intensities, however, there were many differences in the aftermath of the storm. Before the storm, it is cruicial that it is dedected. Detection allows proper precautions to be put in place. Hurricane Katrina was spotted by advanced, sophisticated monitoring satellite systems, which were able to track the storm and predict a trajectorial path; whereas the appropriate covernments where informed of hurricane Nargis just an hour before it was set to hit their shores. Furthermore, Mississippi and Louisiana declared states
Hurricanes begin as tropical disturbances in warm ocean waters with temperatures of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. These low pressure systems are served by energy from the warm seas. If a storm reaches wind speeds of 38 miles an hour, it is known as a tropical depression. A tropical depression becomes a tropical storm, and is given a name, when its sustained wind speeds top 39 miles an hour. When a storm’s sustained wind speeds reach 74 miles an hour, it becomes a hurricane and earns a category rating of 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
A Hurricane is a tropical storm with winds more than 74 miles per hour (mph). Hurricane wind damage is influenced by the duration and change of wind direction, amount of rainfall and how well land structures are build. Hurricanes are measure in five different categories and each category can produce different degree of damages. Category One Hurricane has sustained winds 74-95 mph. Category Two Hurricane has sustained winds of 96-110 mph with very strong winds that can produce widespread damage and extensive damage to power lines. Category Three Hurricane has sustained winds of 111-130 mph that will cause extensive damage with near total power loss that could last several days to weeks. Category Four Hurricane has sustained winds of 131-155 with extremely dangerous winds causing devastating damage. Finally, a category five hurricane has sustained winds greater than 155 mph. This is a catastrophic damage storm. Category five can have severe injury or death due to wind blown debris. A Category five hurricane can produce extensive power outages that will last for weeks to perhaps months. Therefor...
In the hurricane the mixture of the water and winds can be extremely damaging. The winds are extremely dangerous and usually don’t go faster than about 75 miles per hour but have been documented to go as fast as 85 miles per hour. Due to the fact that hurricanes need water to survive they cannot go too far on land, but that does not stop them from causing billions of dollars in damages. Hurricanes are so dangerous that they were listed number 1 on the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Hazard and Disasters list.
A hurricane is a type of natural disaster that can be harmful and destructive to anything in its way. Every year five to six hurricanes are formed, damaging and destroying people’s homes, landmarks, and anything in its path (“Hurricane”). Before a hurricane is developed it is known as a tropical storm. To be a tropical storm wind speed must be at least thirty eight miles per hour (“Hurricane”). Once wind speeds reaches seventy four miles an hour it can then be classified as hurricane (“Hurricane”). Large scale storms, like hurricanes have a variety of ways to measure the sev...