Violent Weather: Hurricanes
Those caught up in a hurricane know only too well when the eye is above them, and although it can buy a bit of valuable time to move, help, or rescue victims, many often describe this moment as a deafening silence. There is an eerie silence within this eye and often clear blue skies and light winds can be usual. A characteristic of a hurricane is the eye and the eye of the storm can be anything from 4 to 25 miles in diameter. The condensation releases latent heat and this heat then powers the hurricane.
Moisture then condenses, clouds are formed, and the rains begin. As this warm air rises around the storms center, it cools. Therefore, the perfect conditions for a hurricane to form are basically warm water and humid air. Hurricanes occur over oceans where the water is 27°C (80°F) or above, and the air has to also be extremely humid and thick. Katrina, by the way, sustained winds of up to 140 mph.
In order to reach hurricane status it has to have sustainable winds exceeding 74 miles per hour. But a hurricane is not just any tropical storm. Well, without going into to much meteorological detail, a hurricane is basically a tropical storm so therefore can only be found in the tropics, namely the Southern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. So just what are hurricanes and why do they occur in certain parts of the world and not others? It’s not the purpose of this short piece to look for someone or something to blame, as lessons have probably already been learnt from the powers that be, but I just hope that the United States governments and responsible departments do everything in their power to ensure such a catastrophe, as was caused by Katrina, never happens again.
Hurricanes can be highly destructive to say the least. Depending which part of the world you come, from you may here about natures ravaging winds being called tropical cyclones or typhoons, but where I come from in the USA, we know them as hurricanes.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.