Tracie Varvir
Physical Geography
Short Paper: Severe Weather Storms
October 15, 2014
Hurricanes and Tornados
Of all the devastating natural disasters that can occur, severe weather storms are amongst the worst. Not all storms are as life threatening as the other, and not all storms are even considered severe. However, when certain weather conditions arise and everything in nature is just right, a storm can grow and terrorize people even though the necessary precautions may have been taken. Two of the most wretched types of storms that are experienced are hurricanes and tornados. Both of these types of severe weather storms have the capabilities of ruining entire cities, taking lives, and leaving damage far beyond what the eye can see.
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This scale uses wind speed to estimate property damage that may occur. The scale has rankings from categories 1-5, which are determined by wind speed. Category 1 ranges from 74-95 mph, and is described by having very dangerous winds that will cause some damage. The second category goes from 96-110 mph wind speeds, and this category is associated with extreme winds causing extensive damage. Then comes category 3, which is labeled as a major hurricane ranging from wind speeds of 111-129 mph. It is described as having devastating damage. Category 4 is also a major storm going from wind speeds of 130-156 mph, and is said to have catastrophic damage. The fifth and last category ranges from wind speeds of 157 and higher. This category is a major storm category, and also causes catastrophic damage. I have seen several images of highly damaging storms and was aware of their level on the Saffir-Simpson scale. In seeing these images, then reading the descriptions of each category I was not surprised, but reminded of how terrible they can be. A tropical depression is a storm in which the winds stay around 38mph, while a tropical storm can have wind speeds that range from 39-73mph, and hurricanes have wind speeds of 74 and …show more content…
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. On top of that, they all touched down in areas of high population. Because of these factors, much damage occurred and the loss of lives was higher than normal. Making sure structures and people are ready for such storms can indeed lessen damage. It is also important to take proper precautions when tornadoes do in fact
On May 20th, 2013 a EF 5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma and surrounding towns, with a path as wide as 1.3 miles wide (2.1 km) and had a wind speed, estimated at its peak, of 210 miles per hour (340 km/h). Killing 24 people, and injuring 377, this was one of the United States worst tornadoes in the past few years, along side the Joplin, Missouri tornado, in 2011. One of Mother Nature’s most dangerous and still very mysterious phenomenons averages about 1,200 reported each year, resulting in 80 deaths and injuring 1500. With very little known about them, especially whether or not they will form is one of the questions that plague meteorologist to this very day. What causes tornadoes, how does the tilt and gravity of the earth affect the winds to produce a tornado, and what will the future hold about our understanding of tornadoes?
What is a tornado? A tornado is “a rapidly rotating vortex or funnel of air extending groundward from a cumulonimbus cloud.” (Haddow et al) Tornadoes produce destructive winds that can destroy everything that comes in its path. Meteorologists use the speed of the winds to classify the strength of tornadoes on the Fujita-Pearson scale. The weakest tornadoes, F0, have wind speeds from 65-85 miles per hour, all the way to an F5 tornado, with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour.
Then finally, the storm can be bumped up into a hurricane if the winds reach 75 mph. The National Weather Service is constantly trying to provide us with data and other information about when and where hurricanes are forming. It has been said that the only way to reduce the number of fatalities in serious storms is to give people more warning time for them to go to a safer place. Many times in hurricanes people are told to evacuate their city or state. The more time that people have to do this, the more that people will do this.
Hurricanes produce fierce winds. Nonetheless, it is the water that creates the most harm. “They can raise tides as high as 20 feet, and dump as much as 20 inches of rain inland,” (Douglas, 107). In fact, the development of Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina caused a tremendous amount of destruction to the United States. Analyzing both of these hurricanes will allow a better understanding of the damage they caused.
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 Meteorology, 2011). The Tri-state tornado was the deadliest 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.
Mother Nature cannot be controlled and as humans we are forced to deal with various natural disasters. We have earth quakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes and many other types of events that are weather driven. Many natural disasters affect our everyday lives and individuals may be forced to safe areas to protect themselves from potential danger. Natural disasters can also place a financial burden on people in affected communities. Hurricanes are strong storms that have been hitting the United States for as long as history can remember. Many hurricanes have hit the southeastern part of the United States the past 100 years. Some of these hurricanes have left little effect of society while others have scarred into the history
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.
Most tornados produced from these storms are relatively weak, don’t enter inhabited areas, and cause little to no damage. The problem is that Oklahoma gets 55.1 tornados annually. With all of these tornados, a couple of them are bound to go through populated areas and cause damage. The damage the tornado causes incre...
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
Hurricanes are one of the deadliest and most expensive natural disasters around. They are more common in areas of humid yet moist weather so they are very foreign to certain places. But to the places were hurricanes are the norm, the people take them extremely seriously because they kill people and ruin countless amounts of property. Hurricanes can attack and harm people in so many ways they can kill people, leave them homeless, it leaves children orphaned and disable them. On the west coast of the United States and other places hurricanes aren’t taken as seriously as other more common disasters, such as, earthquakes and volcanoes yet the hurricane can be a lot more damaging that both of those. Hurricanes are cyclones that develop over warm oceans and breed winds that blow yup to 74 miles per hour.
A. Tornadoes are one of the most severe types of weather phenomena. While many people fear tornadoes and their destructive power, few people do not understand their real causes and effects, nor are they aware of how to protect themselves from their devastating force. B. Tornadoes, violently rotating columns of air, occur when a change in wind direction, coupled with an increase in wind speed, results in a spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. These whirling movements, which may not be visible to the naked eye, are exacerbated when the rotating air column shifts from a horizontal to a vertical position. As the revolving cloud draws the warm air that surrounds it at ground level, its spinning motion begins to accelerate, thereby tornadoes become pendent from low pressure storm clouds.
Hurricanes are powerful atmospheric vortices that are intermediate in size. Hurricanes are unique and powerful weather systems. The word “hurricane” comes from a Caribbean word meaning “big wind”. Views of hurricanes can be seen from a satellite positioned thousands of miles above the earth.
Hurricane is a natural disaster with far reaching consequences. It takes away the lives of millions of people and causes damage to almost all of human creation. It can cause extensive damage to coastlines and several hundred miles inland due to heavy rainfall. Floods and flying debris often plays havoc in the lives of people living along coastal areas. Slow moving hurricanes produce heavy rains in mountainous regions. Landfall and mud-slides can occur due to excessive rain. Chances of flash floods also brighten due to heavy rainfall. Below are some interesting facts about hurricanes.
Hurricanes occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.
Tufty, Barbara; 1001 Questions Answered about Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Other Natural Air Disasters; Dover Publications, Incorporated, August 1987