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Essay on how hurricanes form
Formations of hurricanes
Formation of hurricanes
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Hey everyone! Today I'm going to tell you all about hurricanes and tornadoes. This is all about tornadoes and how they are formed. Next, I'm going to talk about hurricanes and where they are. Next, I'm going to compare and contrast tornadoes and hurricanes. Last, I'm going to summarize what I talked about. What makes a tornado so interesting?
Tornadoes
According to Source 3, tornadoes have winds that are 300 miles an hour. According to Spencer Adkins, West Virginia gets about like 3 tornadoes each year. According to Source 2, tornadoes mostly occur in northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. According to Source 2, there are about 1,000 tornadoes that hit the United States each year. According to Source 2, the cost in damage
On May 22nd, 2011 a massive tornado hit Joplin, Missouri killing 162 people and injuring 1150. With wind speeds of 322km/h, the tornado made a total cost of over $2 billion for the city. 8000 structures were destroyed, 2000 of which were homes. Many people were left homeless. The tornado held an incredible EF5 rating on the Fujita scale, measured from the amount of destruction. The tragic event lasted 38 minutes, from 5:34 pm to 6:12pm. Cool wind from the Rockies in Canada and warm wind from the gulf of Mexico formed into a supercell thunderstorm creating a tornado in Kansas. The tornado rapidly moved into Joplin and continued on its 35 km path.
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.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a tornado is a rotating column of air accompanied by a funnel shaped downward extension of a cumulonimbus cloud and having a vortex several hundred yards in diameter whirling destructively at speeds of up to three hundred miles per hour. There are six classifications of tornadoes, which are measured on what is known as the Fujita Scale. These tornadoes range from an F0 to an F5, which is the most devastating of all. Abnormal warm, humid, and oppressive weather usually precede the formation of a tornado. Records of American tornadoes date back to 1804 and have been known to occur in every state of the United States.
Tornadoes, also called twisters or cyclones, are a localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring over land, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris. They come in many different shapes and sizes, but are typical in a funnel formation, where the narrow end makes contact with the earth. Most don’t reach winds over 110 miles per hour (177 km/h) or have a path wider than 250 feet (76m), and most only travel a few miles on ground before dissipating. Although, some can reach winds as high as 300 miles per hour (483 km/h) or higher, have a path that can be as wide as two miles (3.2 km) or more, and can travel for dozens of miles on the ground before dissipating.
Tornadoes are “violent windstorms that take the form of a rotating column of air or vortex that extends downward from a cumulonimbus cloud” as Tarbuck and Lutgens (2012) explain.
Tornadoes are devastating atmospheric events that affect the ecology and the lives of people in their paths. Tornadoes are defined as “a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud” (Glossary of Meterology, 2011). The Tri-state tornado was the most deadly tornado in the United States. It stayed on the ground for a total of 219 miles through areas of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killed a total of 695 people, and an estimated $16.5 million in damages (National Weather Service, 2011). Luckily, the tornado’s path was largely rural farmland with scattered small towns between them.
Tornadoes may not be the first hazard that is thought of when you think of Eastern North Carolina, but they do happen here fairly often. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration defines a tornado as “a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground.” (NOAA) Tornadoes can catch people off guard and lead to severe injuries or death. Tornadoes can range from mild to extremely violent. They occur in many parts of the world and the United States. Almost any adult is aware of what and where Tornado Alley is. For those that are not aware, it is an area of the central United States that has a very high amount of tornadoes that occur each year. This area runs from the most northern state to the most southern state and is several states wide. It is estimated that roughly 1,200 tornadoes occur each year that are documented. They may occur at any time of the day or night. Spring and summer see the most tornadoes but they may happen in other seasons also.
Tornadoes are powerful and destructive phenomena created in strong thunderstorms. Tornadoes are most common in the United States, and in the U.S., they are common in an area called Tornado Alley. Every year, tornadoes wreak havoc on the countryside, towns, and even cities. The deadliest tornado in U.S. history crossed over three states, destroyed 15,000 homes, and killed almost 700 people. There are only a couple of people on record that claim to have been in and seen the center of a tornado and lived. Tornadoes even have their own rating scale, based on their wind and damage level.Tornadoes are powerful vortexes created in thunderstorms, are common in the U.S., have its own rating scale, have only been seen on the inside a few times, have the potential to demolish towns, and can take lives.
Oklahoma is considered one of the prime spots for storm chasers to find tornados. Oklahoma is part of what is known as Tornado Valley which includes Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas and a couple other states depending on who you ask. It is called Tornado Valley for a very simple reason; it has a large amount of storms that produce tornados consistently. Storms happen all over the country, but it takes more than just a normal storm to create a tornado. Corey Binns in his article “Killer Storms” writes:
In Oklahoma, Tipton and Cherokee suffered the most tornado damage. In Kansas, Lyons, Emporia, and Salina are hit hardest. In Alabama, Tuscaloosa has suffered the most tornadoes. Each of these places is considered to have suffered the most tornado devastation. These tornadoes were ranked very high on the EF scale, which made them incredibly dangerous.
E. Preview: So, let's crash through the causes of tornadoes, twist around the types of tornadoes, and blow through some of the oddities associated with tornadoes.
Tsunamis are on a scale of destruction that no one can stop. Earthquakes that reveal the earth 's true secrets. Hurricanes with winds up to speeds of 155mph, with the worst hurricane recorded, getting wind speeds of 195 mph. A typhoon and a cyclone also fall into the category of hurricanes, just a different type of destruction. Avalanches tumbling down a mountain with high speeds that cover everything in it’s path. Natural disasters can very destructive. Not only can they destroy your environment, your property, your life, your family, and your hope, it destroys the rest of the world too.
Below are some interesting facts about hurricanes. Fact 1: The term ‘hurricane’ is derived from ‘Taino’, a Native American word which means evil spirit of the wind. Fact 2: The first hurricane that caused people to fly in it, occurred in 1943 during World War II. Fact 3: A tropical storm is a hurricane that travels for 74 miles per hour, or higher. Fact 4: Hurricanes are weather disasters, each of them having their own name.
There are many types of tornadoes. The average tornado is usually split up into categories based on the strength of the tornado. Most tornadoes, about sixty nine percent 69%, are considered weak, which means they usually last between one minute and ten minutes, have winds less than one hundred and ten miles per hour, and the percent of deaths that occur during these is less than five percent. Strong tornadoes, about twenty nine percent 29%, may last about twenty minutes, have winds between one hundred and ten and two hundred and five miles per hour, and the percent of deaths that are found are about thirty percent of all tornado deaths. The last category for tornadoes is violent ones. With these comes winds greater than two hundred and five miles per hour, they can last about an hour, and have seventy percent of all deaths from tornadoes. Another type of tornado is known as a waterspout. This is a weak tornado that forms over warm water. They are most common along the Gulf Coast and southeastern states. In the western United States, they occur with cold late fall or late winter storms, during a time when you least expect it to develop. They occasionally move inland becoming tornadoes that can cause a great deal of damage and many injuries.