2. Caribbean Sea China Sea
Hurricanes Typhoons
Bay of
Bengal
Cyclones
Northern
Australia
Willy willies

6. 1.Warm, humid surface air and an unstable atmosphere
Latent heat release during condensation is the driving energy for tropical storm
intensification.
2. Warm ocean surface waters (Temperature > 26.5°C [80°F]). This is the "fuel" for hurricanes.
Depth of warm water > 60 m (200 ft)
As cyclone develops, winds churn up water, bringing up water from below the ocean
surface. If this water is too cold, hurricanes cannot develop.
3. Pre-existing large-scale surface convergence and/or upper-level divergence
Created by a convection thunderstorm which developed over west Africa and moving
out over the Atlantic.
4. Must be further than 4° Latitude away from the Equator
In order to get winds to rotate counterclockwise around an area of low pressure, there
must be a Coriolis effect. The Coriolis force at the equator is zero and gets larger as
one moves toward the poles.
5. Absence of strong vertical wind shear
Wind shear inhibits deep convection, essentially ripping tropical storms apart.
Generally, tropical storms are best able to strengthen when the rising warm air near
the center of the storm goes straight up. Wind shear can cause the updrafts to bend
over, which is not favorable for the storm to strengthen.

8. Parts of a Hurricane
Once a hurricane forms, it has
three main parts:
Eye - the low pressure, calm
center of circulation
Eye wall - area around the eye
with the fastest, most violent winds
Rain bands - bands of
thunderstorms circulating outward
from the eye that are part of the
evaporation/condensation cycle
that feeds the storm

9. Below, are the most common components of a hurricane.
Eye--Is the center of circulation, and area of lowest pressure within a hurricane. Within
the eye of a hurricane, you will encounter clear skies and calm winds. However, don't let
that fool you because once the eye passes your area, the other side of the storm will
arrive, and the stormy weather will continue.
Eye Wall--Is the narrow area of intense thunderstorms that surround the eye of a
hurricane. In this region, you will encounter the most ferocious portion of the storm with
the highest winds it can muster.
Central Dense Overcast--Or, CDO, as it is commonly known as, is the mass of
embedded clouds that make up the inner portion of the hurricane. This contains the eye
wall, and the eye itself. The classic hurricane contains a symmetrical CDO, which means
that it is perfectly circular and round on all sides.
Outflow--This is the outer fringe of a hurricane that serves as a very important element
in hurricane development. That is because the outflow represents all the energy being
released by the hurricane. A powerful hurricane always as good outflow

10. It can take anywhere from hours to several days for a thunderstorm to
develop into a hurricane.
Although the whole process of hurricane formation is not entirely
understood, three events must happen for hurricanes to form:
A continuing evaporation-condensation cycle of warm, humid ocean
air.
A patterns of wind characterized by converging winds at the
surface,resulting from air pulled in to replace warm rising air.
A strong, uniform-speed winds at higher altitudes, allowing air to rise
and not sheared off.

11. Warm, moist air from the ocean surface begins to rise rapidly.
As this warm air rises, its water vapor condenses to form storm clouds
and droplets of rain.
The condensation releases heat called latent heat of condensation.
This latent heat warms the cool air aloft, thereby causing it to rise.
This rising air is replaced by more warm, humid air from the ocean
below.
This cycle continues, drawing more warm, moist air into the developing
storm and continuously moving heat from the surface to the atmosphere.
This exchange of heat from the surface creates a pattern of wind that
circulates around a center.
This circulation is similar to that of water going down a drain.

12. The air in the eye of the hurricane
is at low pressure, and is calm. As
the eye passes over, the winds
may drop altogether, and a small
circle of clear sky may be visible
overhead for a short period of time.
This lull ends when torrential rains
fall around the eye, and raging
winds, drawn in from hot air spiral
up the wall of the eye. These hot
rising winds circulate at speeds of
50 km/h (30 mph). The strongest
winds, with gusts of up to 360 km/h
(225 mph) are found beneath the
eye wall, immediately outside the
eye.

13. Below, are some of the common effects from a hurricane.
Storm surge and tidal flooding--This is the most devastating and notable
effect from a hurricane. Storm surge is the rising wall of water the comes
ashore with a landfalling hurricane, and is responsible for 90 percent of all
hurricane related deaths.
High Winds--This is the most important effect of a hurricane since it
determines how powerful the storm is, and how much storm surge and
damage it can cause. Winds in a hurricane can reach up to 200 mph.
Tornadoes--This is probably the least thought of effect of a hurricane, but
they do occur. Tornadoes occur in a hurricane as a result of the tremendous
energy and instability created when a hurricane makes landfall. Most
tornadoes that occur in hurricanes are only minimal in strength.
Heavy rain and flooding--This is the effect of a hurricane that is completely
taken for granted. After hurricanes make landfall, and their winds abate, the
tremendous amounts of rainfall become a major factor, and can cause
significant flooding as with Hurricane Floyd last year.

14. •Hurricanes bring with them huge amounts of rain. A big hurricane can
dump dozens of inches of rain in just a day or two, much of it inland.
That amount of rain can create inland flooding that can totally
devastate a large area around the hurricane's center.
Many communities and
small towns in eastern
North Carolina found
themselves afloat
following Hurricane
Floyd's massive rainfall
and the ensuing floods.
Streams and waterways
were already swollen from
Hurricane Dennis, which
struck eastern North
Carolina (twice) just
weeks before Hurricane
Floyd.

15. High sustained winds cause
structural damage. These winds can
also roll cars, blow over trees and
erode beaches (both by blowing sand
and by blowing the waves into the
beach).
The prevailing winds of a hurricane
push a wall of water, called a storm
surge, in front of it. If the storm surge
happens to synchronize with a
high tide, it causes beach erosion and
significant inland flooding.
Hurricanes often cause
severe structural damage.
This building, in the U.S.
Virgin Islands, was
leveled.

16. Storm Surge
A storm surge is a rise in the ocean as the result of strong winds from a hurricane
or other intense storm. This ocean water crashes onto the land in a powerful
surge. The storm surge combined with the heavy rain that comes with the
hurricane can cause dangerous flooding in low-lying coastal areas, especially
when a storm surge coincides with a high tide. This flooding can be the most
dangerous part of a hurricane, potentially causing many deaths.
The height of the storm surge is the difference between the level of the ocean
and the level that would have occurred normally. A storm surge is usually
estimated by subtracting the regular high tide level from the observed storm tide -
it can be 15 feet tall or more in a very strong storm. For example, in 1985,
Hurricane Opal (a Category 3 storm) caused storm surges up to 24 feet, causing
flood damage along the Florida coastline near Fort Walton Beach.

17. Ocean-front property is particularly susceptible to damage from
hurricane storm surges, when ocean waves are very high and
strong because of the strength of the hurricane's winds

18. Once a hurricane forms, it is rated on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
There are five categories in this rating system.

19. The National Weather Service has many tools to watch hurricanes. Satellites, ships and
buoys, airplanes radiosondes, and radar are to name a few. They also have a computer
model to help forecast a storms strength.
Satellites collect information about the land, biosphere, atmosphere and the oceans.
Human activity are speed up changes by increasing the carbon dioxide levels.
Scientists are still trying to decide the cause and effect of the changes to the climate
conditions.
A warning is more important than a
Forecasters can estimate watch.
Location The aftermath of Hurricane Camille.
Size Large ships were no match for Camille.
Movement Gulfport, Mississippi (1969)
Intensity of the storm Satellites can measure:
tell about it's surrounding environment Reflected radiation
Two types of warnings Cloud pictures
Hurricane Watch-will hit in the next 36 Land surface temperature
hours Sea surface temperature
Hurricane Warning- will hit into he next 24 Winds from cloud motions
hours Size of clouds
A warning is more important than a watch. Rainfall

20. Usually people know that a hurricane is coming so they have time to
prepare for it. Here are some tips to try:
Keep listening to the weather reports
Make a plan
Make a first aid supply kit
Store water and food
Protect windows
Remove outside antennas
Shut off all water, electricity and gas
Stay indoors during the storm

22. The Hurricane Hunters are members of the
53rd Weather Reconnaissance
Squadron/403rd Wing, based at Keesler Air
Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Since
1944, the U.S. Department of Defense
(which oversees the U.S. military) has been
the only organization to fly into tropical
storms and hurricanes. Since 1965, the
Hurricane Hunters team has used the C-130
Hercules, a very sturdy turboprop plane.
The only difference between this plane and
the cargo version is the specialized, highly
sensitive weather equipment installed on the
WC-130. The team can cover up to five
storm missions per day, anywhere from the
mid-Atlantic to Hawaii.

23. Efforts in storm modification go as far back as the late 1940s when Dr. Irwin
Langmuir began exploring the idea of using ice crystals to weaken storms such
as hurricanes. In 1947, he organized a team of scientists from General Electric,
and brought his idea to fruition with Project Cirrus.
The highlight of this effort occurred on October 13, 1947 when Langmuir and his
team had a Navy plane fly into a hurricane off the coast of Georgia, and drop a
payload of dry ice into it.
The hope of using dry ice was to release energy from the storm's inner core.
and thus weaken the hurricane itself. It was originally considered a success.
After the cloud seeding had taken place, the hurricane suddenly changed
direction, and made landfall near the coastal city of Savannah, Georgia.
However, about a decade later, a scientist named Mook recognized that the
storm's sudden change in direction was not caused by the seeding, but rather
the upper level steering winds in the vicinity of the hurricane.