Hurricane Essay
Lee Chapman
October 26, 2009
Essay Assignment
GE-253
Hurricanes
Have you ever heard tropical storms pushing winds up to 200 mph and causing destruction everywhere? A true beast of nature we call a hurricane. These hurricanes can show up at any time to make a mess of things. To fully understand hurricanes we have to peer into the history, calculate the physics, plot the storm’s movements and actions, respect the power of such storms, and prepare ourselves if a storm is headed our way.
A lot of hurricanes have happened up until now learning the history of these storms will help create a better understanding of them. The first hurricane recorded was in 1494 while Christopher Columbus was on his second voyage. The most devastating tropical storm was in 2005 with Hurricane Wilma being a category five storm. This storm had winds up to 175 mph and lasted as a tropical cyclone for 11 days then a hurricane for 8 days. The most expensive hurricane was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which caused 70 to 130 billion dollars in damages. As you can tell hurricanes can be very destructive at times. How do you think these mighty storms are formed well let’s find out.
Tropical storms can take their time to grow and plot its direction finding out how this works can help expand our knowledge of hurricanes. These storms require four conditions one of them is a low air pressure and another one is warm temperatures. The other two are moist ocean air and tropical winds (near the equator). Hurricanes form in the tropics over warm ocean water with an average temperature of 27 Celsius near the equator. They start out as a tropical wave. When warm, moist air rises and the cold air switch places with the warm air it creates a tropical disturbance. A tropical disturbance produces strong gusty winds, heavy rain, and thunderclouds. Air pressure drops and winds up to 38 mph this called a tropical depression. Now it is the winds calling the shots, winds of 39 to 73 mph it is called a tropical storm
October 26, 2009
Essay Assignment
GE-253
Hurricanes
Have you ever heard tropical storms pushing winds up to 200 mph and causing destruction everywhere? A true beast of nature we call a hurricane. These hurricanes can show up at any time to make a mess of things. To fully understand hurricanes we have to peer into the history, calculate the physics, plot the storm’s movements and actions, respect the power of such storms, and prepare ourselves if a storm is headed our way.
A lot of hurricanes have happened up until now learning the history of these storms will help create a better understanding of them. The first hurricane recorded was in 1494 while Christopher Columbus was on his second voyage. The most devastating tropical storm was in 2005 with Hurricane Wilma being a category five storm. This storm had winds up to 175 mph and lasted as a tropical cyclone for 11 days then a hurricane for 8 days. The most expensive hurricane was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which caused 70 to 130 billion dollars in damages. As you can tell hurricanes can be very destructive at times. How do you think these mighty storms are formed well let’s find out.
Tropical storms can take their time to grow and plot its direction finding out how this works can help expand our knowledge of hurricanes. These storms require four conditions one of them is a low air pressure and another one is warm temperatures. The other two are moist ocean air and tropical winds (near the equator). Hurricanes form in the tropics over warm ocean water with an average temperature of 27 Celsius near the equator. They start out as a tropical wave. When warm, moist air rises and the cold air switch places with the warm air it creates a tropical disturbance. A tropical disturbance produces strong gusty winds, heavy rain, and thunderclouds. Air pressure drops and winds up to 38 mph this called a tropical depression. Now it is the winds calling the shots, winds of 39 to 73 mph it is called a tropical storm
Cited: Department of Health and Human Services, "Hurricane Preparedness Tips". June 10, 2005 . Enchanted Learning. "How Hurricanes Form and Die". August 19, 2009 < http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/weather/hurricane/formation.shtml>. Wikipedia. "Tropical cyclone". August 19, 2009 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone>. Enchanted Learning. "HISTORY OF HURRICANES". August 19, 2009 < http://www.keyshistory.org/hurricanes.html>.