Hurricane – Protecting Yourself From Nature’s Powerful Force

Hurricanes are natural phenomena that make their way into the news every summer. Hurricanes are tropical storms with powerful winds and large amounts of rainfall. They can devastate wide areas, creating billions of dollars in property losses and taking many lives. Good preparation can limit the losses from hurricanes. Regular news reports help to alert residents to the proximity of hurricanes in their area.

What Are Hurricanes?

Hurricanes are swirling storms that form over warm ocean water. They are accompanied by very strong winds of at least 75 miles per hour, and often, several times that amount. If winds are less than this amount, they are called tropical storms. Hurricanes have an “eye,” a hole at the center of the weather mass where winds are light and clear can be clear. The “eye wall” is a ring of thunderstorms that swirl around the eye. The winds are strongest and the rain is heaviest in the wall.  The “rain bands” are the patchy rings that extend out from a hurricane’s eye wall and can stretch for hundreds of miles around the hurricane. They contain active thunderstorms and often spawn tornadoes.

How Do Hurricanes Form?

Warm water is needed for hurricanes to form. Generally, water temperatures must be above 79 degrees to form a hurricane. As a result, hurricanes usually form in the late summer and early fall when the ocean water has been warmed by the hot summer sun. Hurricanes do not usually form in northern areas of the world because the ocean water stays cold year-round. Hurricanes also require winds that do not change as they move higher. Changing winds break up weather patterns. The uniform winds help to move the hurricane in a circular pattern. Climatologists study the weather data that predicts the likelihood of hurricane formation and the paths that hurricanes will take. The exact path of the hurricane can be very difficult for weather scientists to predict. Generally, they will narrow down the range of probable paths to a “cone of probability,” a cone-shaped region where the hurricane is likely to hit land. This limitation allows communities within the cone to alert residents so that they can secure their properties and evacuate the area.

How Destructive Are Hurricanes?

The powerful winds that accompany hurricanes can cause a great deal of damage to homes and properties, breaking windows, creating water damage and propelling objects through the air. The winds can knock down fences and screened areas, lift roofs off structures and uproot trees. The heavy rainfall can ruin floors and walls, cause flash flooding and collapse sea walls. Even after the powerful hurricane winds have subsided, people must beware of the “storm surge,” a rise in nearby water levels that can occur unexpectedly. Storm surges are responsible for the majority of the losses in human life during hurricanes.

How To Protect Your Family and Property

Those people who live in hurricane-prone areas should install hurricane panels over the windows and glass doors of their homes. Bring in all lawn furniture and other objects that can become missiles in the high winds of a hurricane. Check the weather news frequently to determine if you are in the direct path of the hurricane. If so, prepare to evacuate your home and go to an area outside of the strike area. Pack a bag with clothes, medications, children’s items and pet items to take with you. Fill your car with gasoline and get additional water and batteries for electronics. If caught unexpectedly in your home during a hurricane, carry a mattress, radio and water into a windowless closet and cover yourself with a mattress. Watch out for downed power lines and broken gas and water mains.

The Nature of Hurricanes

The functions of this great earth are spectacular. One of the most amazing wonders of nature is storms. Storms are recognized by different names such as typhoons or hurricanes depending on the location of their occurrence. They are called typhoons in the Western North Pacific, tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. They are considered hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The scientific term used to identify these storms is tropical cyclone.

Hurricanes are like giant engines that use tepid moist air or water vapor as energy. They form only over ocean waters near the equator that are warm. This moist air over the ocean’s surface rises upward leaving less air below. This is the formula for the perfect storm.

The beginning of a hurricane depends on at least three conditions.  First, the ocean water surface must be warm enough to put enough heat and moisture into the atmosphere. This works to supply the potential energy for the thermodynamic engine that a hurricane becomes. Second, atmospheric moisture or water vapor due to evaporation must combine with that heat and energy to form the powerful force needed to propel a hurricane. Third, a wind pattern must exist near the ocean surface to spiral air inward from the surrounding areas. As the air from the surface moves upwards a low pressure is created which pulls the surrounding air. In turn this provides the additional force required to continue the propulsion. Bands of thunderstorms are formed, allowing the air to warm further and rise higher into the atmosphere. This rhythmic cycle continues. If the winds at these higher levels are relatively weak, this formation can remain intact and grow in force. This is the beginning of a hurricane.

Hurricanes that form on the northern side of the equator spin counterclockwise whereas those on the southern side of the equator spin clockwise. This variation is because of Earth’s rotation on its axis. Astonishingly the center of the storm is very calm and clear. This is called the eye of the storm. The fiercest activity takes place in the area that is in the immediate vicinity of the eye referred to as the eyewall.

These storms cause damaging winds and furious waves. Although with them comes grief from the damage they cause, because it is nature’s creation, there is an underlining beauty about them.

Welcome

Welcome to Crocotta Research & Development Ltd‘s environment blog!