Hurricane Intensity

hurricanes. They form out in the ocean near the coast of Africa. Through the hurricanes journey,

Natural disasters occurring from the climate change could be on the rise. Global warming has been rumored to be causing more hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, heavier monsoonal rains that cause major flooding, mud slides, and other disasters worldwide. A tropical cyclone, also referred to as hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones, depending on where in the world the cyclone is occurring, are one of the world’s grandest shows of energy provided by nature. Hurricanes are large, swirling, low pressure storms that have sustained winds of over 74 miles an hour and are formed over warm ocean waters (NASA, n.d.). The purpose of this paper is to discuss hurricanes

Graumann, Axel. Hurricane Katrina. [Electronic Resource] : A Climatological Perspective : Preliminary Report. Asheville, NC : U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, National Climatic Data Center, [2006], 2006. Technical report: no. 2005-01. EBSCOhost,

There is speculation that climate change may have also have contributed to the storms intensity. Global warming may have made Sandy wetter and stronger. Hurricanes and tropical storms are fueled by warm water evaporating into the air. Records indicate that ocean surface temperatures are up 0.9 degrees

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.

Greshko explains that this hurricane season has been so active because atmospheric conditions and surface seas temperatures have been warmer than normal. There have been other major hurricanes to make landfall on the continental US over the years but this season has still been unusual with two category 4 storms hitting land in a small space of time. It seems as though the longer it goes, the more severe it gets. Finally, Greshko concludes this article by talking about the cause of this catastrophic hurricane season being climate change. The climate plays a big role in weather and the warmer conditions will make for much worse tropical storms in the Atlantic. In the future individual will drop more precipitation in the future, since warmer air can hold more water vapor. The warmer temperatures are a result of human activity an if the climate continues to warm up then its predicted that storm surges will become much worse.

The water vapor is the fuel source of hurricanes. Losing this moist environment is why hurricanes don’t last long once they hit land (Today’s Science, October 2004).

On September 21 1938 an enormous hurricane hit the east coast, RI and Long island was greatly impacted. This storm was very powerful due to various conditions. One of them was the weather, between the waves, winds, and floods the storm was very deadly. Some other conditions contributed to the destruction, but one in particular put the nailin the coffin, human error. The impact that this hurricane caused was trmendous it destroyed many people's lives.

Tropical storms and hurricanes have become more intense during the past twenty years in North Carolina, due to climate change. Hurricane wind speeds and rainfall rates are likely to increase as the climate continues to warm. Whether the storms become more intense or not, homes, and infrastructure are at risk due to rising sea level. “Increased rainfall may further exacerbate flooding in some coastal areas. Since 1958, the amount of precipitation during heavy rainstorms has increased by 27 percent in the Southeast, and the trend toward increasingly heavy rainstorms is likely to continue.”

Meyer goes on to analyze the likely cause behind the massive increase in major hurricanes. The culprit in the statistical phenomenon: Accumulated cyclone energy, which measures the strength of a hurricane over the course of its existence, done by taking maximum

Climate change is also having an effect on the rain, snow, and the hurricanes. The strength of hurricanes are getting more and more powerful each year. According to a study done by, "Signs of Climate Change", in the 1950 hurricanes were between and category 2-3

I honestly can't blame anyone for it for the devastation of hurricane Katrina. It was a hurricane. You can't really stop a hurricane from coming. Sure, you can prepare for it by making levies and stocking food. But, you can't stop it. If we could we really wouldn't need weather forecasters.

Based on Battan’s research and evidence from previous storms, Battan established that numerous factors play a significant role in determining the size of a storm, as well as its destruction, which range from the movement of air along each system, the levels of heat in the atmosphere and on earth’s surface, and the amount of heat that is released from the process of condensation. A storm such as a hurricane will release more heat compared to a small thunderstorm. Additionally, warmer air will also be present on earth’s surface which will cause upward and downward movement of the warm and cold air that comes into play to build up more energy, making the storm

Did you know that Hurricanes have killed approximately 1.9 million people worldwide over the past 200 years. (Karen lenhardt said in her 2017 article on facts about hurricanes). We are seeing more and more of these occur, this year we have already encountered 13 named storms, 7 of them being hurricanes. Only four other seasons since 1995 have had that many by Sept. 18. Just two more by the end of the year would put 2017 in the top 15 since 1851. Maggie Astor stated in her New York Times news report about the 2017 Hurricane season . We must take notice and learn about the hurricane process so that we are able to understand the stages that hurricanes go through to get to be so fierce and devastating to get the strength to kill that many people.

Civil engineers from Colorado State University discovered an effective way to identify and predict hurricane impacts. Hussam Mahmoud an associate professor of the civil and environmental engineering department and Stephanie Pilkington a graduate civil engineering student created a hurricane impact level model that estimates damages caused by storms before they occur. In the article, Mahmoud explains that wind speeds are not the main cause of hurricanes. Other impacts caused by flooding and precipitation combined with population density and quality of infrastructure are the main causes of hurricane activity.