Hurricanes and Storm Surges By Kevin Poitra

Hurricanes Hurricanes, also knows as tropical cyclones, are massive amounts of moving, warm air. They are most common near warm shores, where the humidity within the air is relatively high. Their formation is caused by a disturbance within the air, causing warm air to be lifted up and stay up. There’s three stages to a hurricanes' life.

Stage one: Formative Stage The initial stage for a hurricane where the hurricane is made. Less dense, moist air is lifted up, which makes for rainfall and air movement, and creates low pressure at the ocean’s surface. Warm air goes in to replace the missing air, which triggers the Coriolis effect to shift the air in a counterclockwise motion.

Stage two: Mature Stage In this stage, most of the action and destruction takes place. Air being transferred to the eye gets lifted, rotated, and is increased in speed. Air pressure continually decreases. Once the wind speed exceeds 65 km/h, the storm is known as a tropical storm. Once it gets past 120km/h, it’s a hurricane.

Stage three: Dissipation Stage The end of a hurricane’s life. This stage occurs when the storm loses enough energy, such as when it moves over land. This stage also produces a massive amount of damage, as it occurs primarily over land.

Storm Surges A storm surge is multiple tall, powerful waves that impact shorelines. A storm surge is created by the wind of the hurricane it derives from. In the northern hemisphere, they are most commonly formed to the right of the hurricane. The cause the most damage at shores, due to the high waves they produce, and the counterclockwise wind they get from the storm.

Preventative Measures Install roofing straps and clips to ensure that the roof is secured. Using permanent storm shutters to protect your windows is good, but 5/8 plywood works good too. Finding an underground hideout for the duration of the storm is highly recommended. Be sure that there’s enough food and water supplies to last for the duration of the storm.

Instruments Used for Detection Barocyclometer: Detects hurricanes up to 500 miles away, allowing enough time for the surrounding area to be evacuated. National Data Buoys: A series of buoys set up to collect data, such as wind speed, direction, gust, barometric pressure, wave height, and air temperature. Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites: Most commonly used, they help scientists estimate the location, size, movement and intensity of a storm.

Historically Significant Hurricanes NameDate of occurrenceAmount of damage caused Hurricane KatrinaAugust 23 rd, 2005$81 billion+ Hurricane RitaSeptember 17 th, 2005$6 billion Hurricane WilmaOctober 15 th, 2005$10 billion Hurricane DeanAugust 13 th, 2007$2 billion

Interesting Facts 1.Hurricanes claim more lives each year than any other storm. 2.With every hurricane, there is always at least one storm surge. 3.Storm surges are most common for killing the most people during the storm, due to their fast currents and high rate of drowning people. 4.Hurricanes aren’t always called hurricanes. In East Asia, they are known as Typhoons, and in Australia, they are known as “Willy-willies”. 5.Hurricane season runs for June 1 st to November 30 th, where most of the hurricanes occur.