Because the state is located near the tropics and winds blow towards it from the African coasts on the Equator, Florida is especially a susceptible place to hurricanes. When thunderstorms along the west coast of Africa travel out over warm ocean waters that have a temperature of at least eighty degrees Fahrenheit combine with winds from around the equator, a hurricane is formed (West). As the storm travels westward, it comes in
Contrasting examples of how extreme weather conditions develop, such as hurricanes and drought. Hurricanes Conditions needed Hurricanes develop in warm, tropical regions where the water is at least 27 degrees Celsius. The ocean also has to be at least 50m deep. The storms also require moist air and converging equatorial winds. Most begin closer to the equator, starting as thunderstorms that move out over the warm, tropical ocean waters.
Hurricanes, also called typhoons in other parts of the world, start as thunderstorms. Like all thunderstorms in the northern hemisphere, they rotate counterclockwise. They usually move from the Northwest Coast of Africa toward Central and North America pushed by equatorial trade winds. When the thunderstorms reach, or come into, warmer waters with easterly winds, they then strengthen into first a tropical depression, and then it could intensify into a tropical storm, and finally a hurricane. Hurricanes range from a category one hurricane all the way to a category five reaching winds up to one hundred seventy miles per hour plus.
The wind must also be blowing in the same direction and at the same speed to allow an organized convection to develop. Winds flow to the top of the storm allowing the air below the rest to rise. Hurricanes are very destructive and have strong winds, heavy rain and thunder. Winds exceeding 80 mph can cause flooding and damage which can cause injury and death. A lot of houses, buildings, cars and other vehicles will be ruined and people can be killed.
Hurricanes are born over warm, tropical oceans, because they are generated by water vapor produced by the warm water surface. Hurricanes approximately range from about three hundred miles wide, although they can vary considerably in size. The size of a hurricanes wind field is usually a few hundred miles across, so if a hurricane is three hundred miles wide and consist of a wind shields of two hundred miles then it’s really about five hundred miles of terror. Hurricanes are huge enough to cover an entire state. The power of a hurricane is tremendous.
On the 24th august 1992 hurricane Andrew hit Florida, and is recognized as the most destructive natural hazard in the United States, scoring category 5 on the Saffir Simpsons scale. It formed as bands of clouds close to the equator where the air is moist. A centre of low pressure forms, and the air begins to spiral in towards the low pressure, as the system moves away from the equator. Latent heat is released when water vapor condenses, this encourages further uplift as the warm air rises and the pressure at the centre falls rapidly. The storm gets bigger as the low pressure sucks in more warm moist air this also causes strong winds.
he Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale is a 1-5 rating based on the hurricane's present intensity. This is used to give an estimate of the potential property damage and flooding expected along the coast from a hurricane landfall. Wind speed is the determining factor in the scale, as storm surge values are highly dependent on the slope of the continental shelf in the landfall region. Note that all winds are using the U.S. 1-minute average. Category One Hurricane: Winds 74-95 mph (64-82 kt or 119-153 km/hr).
This was because of many fires, houses with severe damages, and buildings with severe damages. A tsunami is a high sea wave caused by an earthquake or other
The three phases that the storm goes through are: tropical depression, tropical storm, and then a hurricane (Mehta, 2010, para.2). According to Naik (2010), thunderstorms drift over warm ocean waters, the warm air in them combines with the warm air over the ocean surface and starts rising. The warm air then starts to rise and low pressure is created at the surface of the storm. As the trade winds which blow in opposite directions they start propelling the formation in a circular motion (Naik). The winds of a hurricane can exceed up to 200 mph.
The True Understanding of Hurricane Katrina In the essay, “Hurricane Katrina: Investigating the U.S. Government’s Failed Response” the author, Eliza Hubbard writes about the situations that accrued in Hurricane Katrina, which is one of the most destructive tropical storms ever to hit the United States. It affected many parts of the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on August 29th, 2005, it affected New Orleans, Louisiana the most by causing the levees, which helped the flow of the river and stop flooding, to collapse. This lead to flooding in the city, where many bodies still lie beneath the dirty waters filled with debris. Hurricane Katrina attacked in two ways, one being the hurricane itself and the other being the flooding throughout New Orleans. The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans was extremely severe, resulting from one of the most deadly natural disasters in U.S. history.