Tornados
1. Define the disaster type. What are its characteristics?
a. A tornado is a mixture between rising hot hair and falling cold air that causes a swirling column. It is first characterized by rotating air that looks like a funnel. As the funnel and storm develop, the funnel cloud drops down into a tornado that looks like a column. As the tornado picks up debris and dust its speed increases.
2. Does the type of disaster have a SCALE?
a. What is the scale used?
i. Enhanced Fujita Tornado Damage Intensity Scale
b. What are the defining characteristics of the scale?
i. The defining characteristics of the scale are: category, average wind speed, and damage description. This scale is intended to rate the intensity of tornadoes based on
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Does the type of disaster have a SCALE? Yes
a. What is the scale used?
i. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale
b. What are the defining characteristics of the scale?
i. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1-5 category based on a hurricane’s sustained wind speed. This scale estimates the potential property damage. Category 3,4 and 5 Hurricanes are considered major hurricanes because of their potential to be deadly and damaging (Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale).
c. Are there “small” versions of the disaster on the scale that are not particularly damaging or deadly?
i. All categories of hurricanes are damaging and dangerous. However preventative measures can be taken during hurricanes reaching a category 1 or 2 (Saffir-Simpton Hurricane Wind Scale).
3. Describe the geography of the disaster type.
a. Do they occur more often at certain locations in the US? If so, where?
i. Hurricanes occur more often on the East coast (Atlantic Coast) and the Gulf of Mexico.
[PLACE HERE: Map of the continental United States with region(s) prone to the disaster
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N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2017. .
c. For any particular location where the disaster is more common, what could be the timing between one event and the next? Days, Months, Years, Decades, Millennia?
i. The timing between hurricanes depends on the weather patterns. Some hurricanes can be followed by another hurricane due to the weather patterns.
5. Would you consider this type of disaster “predictable” or “unpredictable”? Predictable.
a. If predictable, what range of warning time is typical?
i. Residents of costal or near coastal regions (east coast, Florida, Gulf of Mexico region) are advised to prepare for hurricane season regardless of the outlook. Weathermen can determine the path of a hurricane from a couple days to a week. However, hurricanes are more predictable as they approach because it is easier to determine the weather patterns of the storm (Hurricane Season's Peak: Most Intense U.S. Hurricanes Hit in This 17-Day Period). This allows meteorologists to give residents days warning of an approaching hurricane.
b. If unpredictable, is there any warning at
Hurricanes are a tropical cyclone, which means a rotation of closed low-level circulation of clouds and thunderstorms that originate from tropical and subtropical waters. Hurricanes are categorized by five categories, which determine the wind speed, the surge, and the pressure of a storm. These five categories help people be aware of how dangerous hurricanes can be: 1-minimal, 2-moderate, 3-extensice, 4-extrme, 5-catastrophic. Categories 1 and 2 have winds between 74-110 miles per hour, with a flow of 4-8 feet of water, and a sea level pressure of 980-979 millibars.
Category 5 hurricanes are the highest level of impact and size a hurricane can be; therefore they can be very catastrophic and one must prepare (especially when you live in Florida). There are many ways you can prepare efficiently for a hurricane, even if you can not accurately predict when, where, or how hard it will hit.
There are many categories for hurricanes, but a category 5 is the worst. But there are also many ways to prepare for a hurricane. But there are also safe, easy, and right ways to prepare for a hurricane also. There are many ranks that a hurricane can have. The rinks go 1-5 a five being the worst. According to “Google”, there have been 33 hurricanes that have retained a category 5 status in the Atlantic. And 17 had been recorded to have 175 mph wind or greater.
When warm water, moist air, and strong winds collide and create a rotating bundle of thunderstorms create a rotating bundle of thunderstorms and clouds a hurricane is formed. Hurricane send when they lose their source of energy by traveling over land or cold water. Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Hurricane season is either from June 1-November 30 or mid-August to mid-September. Hurricanes can last for a few hours to at least 2 weeks depending on its size. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale rates, or categorizes, hurricanes. Hurricane names rotate each year but, if a hurricane is strong enough that name is retired.
We use Fujita-Pearson to measure the strength or force of a tornado. There are 6 F scale numbers. F6 is the highest category with wind speed 319-379 mph. Next, F5 is incredible tornado with wind speed 261-318 mph. Next, F4 is devastating tornado with wind speed 207-260 mph. It is completely capable of flattening cars and hurling cattle, and F1 can push a mobile home off its foundation.
Hurricanes are, highly dangerous and large swirling storms that begin over water and they sometimes end up on land. On October, 4th 2016 Hurricane Matthew hit the coasts of Haiti with 130 to 150 mph wind speeds which means it was a Category 4 hurricane. Hurricanes such as Matthew are tracked by forecasters whose job is to give people watching or listening an idea of strong the winds are. The forecasters use a scale called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale it is used to track the winds and categorize the hurricane. The scale has 5 Categories beginning at 74 miles per hour and ending 157 mph and it can go even higher. Lastly, a hurricane has three parts, first the rainbands, the rain bands have rain, thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes, next
Scientific proof is that stronger hurricanes can reach up to forty to fifty feet high in the sky and can range in mph. The hurricane needs the Coriolis force to form. It is stronger in the Northern Hemisphere and weaker near the Equator. The Southern Hemisphere experiences half the hurricane activity that the Northern does. When the hurricane forms, it can be large enough to carry winds of exasperating speeds and reach a diameter measurement of 600-800 kilometers (conserve-energy-future.com). The eye of the hurricane can be as large as thirty-two kilometers. What is strange is in the eye, the wind is usually calm. The temperature and weather place factors in the
In order to impart destruction of such magnitude, Katrina had to be fearfully strong. The intensity of a hurricane is usually based on classification according to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. This scale categorizes hurricanes by their maximum sustained winds ranging from Category 1 to Category 5. When it comes to Hurricane Katrina, it's no surprise that it was rated as a Category 5 hurricane. To get a feel for how strong such a hurricane might be, it's important to know that Category 5 hurricanes have sustained winds greater than 157 mph. In comparison, Katrina's highest sustained winds were calculated to be 175 mph.
Most hurricanes that hit the United States begin either in the Caribbean or the Atlantic. Many of the worst start as seedlings coming off the coast of Africa. Like all tropical cyclones, a hurricane needs the warm water of the tropics, which feeds a storm with energy, in order to form. Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the surface. Because this air moves up and away from the surface, there is less air left near the surface. Another way to say the same thing is that the warm air rises,
An event is only correctly identified as a disaster when the damage is too great for an affected region or city to handle or respond to the event with their own resources. To be more direct, a disaster is an actual event that results in more disruption and losses than a community is capable of handling on their own and they must therefore rely on assistance from other communities, the state or federal government (Smith 2012). A disaster, regardless of the nature of the event, in one region or city, may not qualify as a disaster in another region or city. It is all based on the impacted area’s capability to cope with the event on their own.
Most people know about tornadoes because Dorothy from “The Wizard Of Oz” got sucked up in one. The force of the tornado in the movie was easy to see. Tornadoes don’t just occur in movies, they also happen in the central US, Southwest, Australia, The Gulf Of Mexico, the Midwest, and the Great Plains. They happen in these places because those areas are flat and wide (ustornado.com). Additionally, tornadoes arise in Tornado Alley. Tornadoes appear in these places because the areas are very open. When cold, dry air and hot, dry air meet moist air, tornadoes occur. (komonews.com).
Hurricanes emerge from the tropics of the Atlantic Ocean close to the earth’s equator because it is attracted to warm water with a temperature of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (Today’s Science, October 2004). As the temperature increases, it changes the liquid water into water vapor that forms clouds of warm, moist air causing it rise.
Hurricanes usually form over the warmer tropical oceans. Hurricanes form from the evaporation of the warm water. Hurricanes are the most powerful over warm seas. Many of the hurricanes that hit the United States form near the African Coastline before traveling over the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricanes that hit the United States are most common in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Carolina, and North Carolina. Hurricanes are most common in early fall. Tornadoes form over land usually as heat from the surface causes air to rise. The air is humid which then becomes cooler and rises up making clouds that make
A category three hurricane is defined as having wind speeds from 111 to 130 mph with a storm surge of nine to twelve feet, and doing some structural damage to small residences and buildings. A category four hurricane sustains winds of 131 to 155 mph with a storm surge of about thirteen to eighteen feet. In a category four hurricane, shrubs, trees, and all signs are blown down and there are some complete roof structure failures on small residences. Land lower than ten feet above sea level can become flooded, resulting in evacuations of residential areas that are as far inland as six miles. A category five hurricane sustains winds of greater than 155 mph with a storm surge greater than eighteen feet. In a category five hurricane, there is complete roof failure on many buildings and residences with some buildings being completely blown over or blown away. At this point, all signs, trees and shrubs are blown down, there is complete destruction of mobile homes, and excessive flooding can occur (White p.30).
hurricanes. They form out in the ocean near the coast of Africa. Through the hurricanes journey,