Download presentation
Presentation is loading. Please wait.
Published byClaude Reynolds Modified over 9 years ago
1
Hurricanes Earth Science Mr. Doe
2
Hurricane Season Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean officially runs from June 1 st to November 30 th. Every year scientists try to predict the number of active storms that will occur. Sometimes their predictions are right and sometimes they aren’t.
3
The 2008 Hurricane Season The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an above average season with 12 to 16 storms, 6 to 9 hurricanes, and 2 to 5 major hurricanes on May 22. So far there have been 10 named storms: 4 tropical storms and 5 hurricanes.
4
Hurricane Classification Storms are classified using the Saffir- Simpson scale. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale CategoryWind SpeedStorm Surge mph (km/h) ft (m) 5 ≥156 (≥250) >18 (>5.5) 4 131–155 (210–249) 13–18 (4.0–5.5) 3 111–130 (178–209) 9–12 (2.7–3.7) 2 96–110 (154–177) 6–8 (1.8–2.4) 1 74–95 (119–153) 4–5 (1.2–1.5) Additional Classifications Tropical Storm 39–73 (63–117) 0–3 (0–0.9) Tropical Depression 0–38 (0–62) 0 (0)
5
Life Cycle of a Hurricane Hurricanes begin over the Atlantic Ocean between 5º and 20º North latitude. The water temperatures are very warm causing a lot of evaporation. As the warm moist air rises it cools off and releases the energy used during evaporation. This causes the storm to grow larger and stronger.
6
Life Cycle of a Hurricane The warm air causes low pressure to form. This low pressure is called a tropical depression. A tropical depression has wind speeds from 0-38 mph.
7
Life Cycle of a Hurricane The prevailing winds (the NE Trade Winds) push the tropical depression to the west. As the storm moves west over the warm water it continues to grow in size and strength. As wind speeds increase the storm’s classification changes from tropical depression to tropical storm to hurricane.
8
Hurricane Names 2008 Hurricane Names Arthur Bertha Cristobal Dolly Edouard Fay Gustav Hanna Ike Josephine Kyle Laura Marco Nana Omar Paloma Rene Sally Teddy Vicky Wilfred Hurricane names run alphabetically. There are six lists of names that the National Weather Service uses. These lists rotate and names of extremely damaging storms are retired from the lists.
9
Life Cycle of a Hurricane As the storm moves west its path will bend toward the right. This is caused by the Coriolis Effect. Storms will travel faster and in more of a straight line over warmer water. They will slow down when they travel over colder water and their paths will curve more.
10
Life Cycle of a Hurricane Storms will die out (or lose strength) when they travel over colder water and over land. As a storm dies out, its wind speeds will decrease. As wind speed decreases, the storm will be “downgraded”. A hurricane will be downgraded to a tropical storm and a tropical storm will be downgraded to a tropical depression.
11
Tropical Storm / Hurricane Hanna
14
Hurricane Ike – Sat. 9/6/2008
15
Hurricane Ike - Infrared
16
Hurricane Ike – Monday 9/8/2008
17
Hurricane Ike – Infrared (Mon.)
18
Tropical Storm Josephine
20
Historical Hurricanes - 2007
21
Historical Hurricanes - 2006
22
Historical Hurricanes – 2005
23
Historical Hurricanes – 2004
24
Historical Hurricanes – 2003
Similar presentations
© 2025 SlidePlayer.com. Inc.
All rights reserved.