Warning Systems of Hurricanes
When you think of a hurricane do
you think of a spiral galaxy? Well, I do but when you get further into it you
realize the difference between the two. A hurricane is a type of a tropical
cyclone. A typical hurricane would occur not alone but would be accompanied by
thunderstorms, and in the Northern Hemisphere, a counterclockwise circulation
of winds near the earth's surface.
Warm and moist air from
the oceans will begin to rise at very fast rates. While the air is rising the
water vapor will begin to condensate and create dark storm clouds and drops of
rain. The surface areas begin to drop as the water vapor condenses and releases
heat into more tropical areas where the epicenter of the disturbance has been
located. This latent heat causes the air to become less dense. While the warm
air is rising it is becoming cooler and then it slowly expands. That causes
more condensation of water vapor which then releases more latent heat, which
causes more warm air to rise. A chain reaction is now in place. The rapid
change of the heat causes a pattern of surface winds to move around the
epicenter. Later the converging winds, which are winds that rotate in the
epicenter and rotate in different directions causing them to bump into each
other collide and then push the warm air downwards and the moist, dense air
upward. The moist air that is rising then backs up the air that is already in
the air. This causes the winds to speed up and rotate even faster. “In the
meantime, strong winds that are blowing at high speeds and at high altitudes
help to remove the hot rising air from the storms center.” But, if the winds
spin in different directions, they will bump into each other which will weaken
the storm.
Hurricanes
form in tropical regions, so mostly around the equator. They form around there
because they need warm water and moist air and high humidity. They also need
light winds and warm surface temperatures. Late summers and fall moths are the
exact right times for hurricanes to explode in those regions. Most of the Atlantic
hurricanes brew up on the coast of Africa. For that the northern hemisphere
hurricane season is considered through the months of June and November.
The effects that hurricanes can create are major problems to us. The
strongest effects of the hurricane are usually felt in the top right quadrant.
There the winds are the strongest, storms are the highest and the possibilities
of tornados are most likely. It is extremely important to know if where you
live will be affected by the right top quadrant, so the hurricanes strongest
point.
You must know the sings on hurricanes so you can predict when they are
coming. The first sign is always the clustering of storms over tropical oceans.
A hurricane can take hours or even days
to form. It all depends on when the storm will actually turn into a hurricane. There
are 3 things that need to happen for a hurricane to actually occur and then “proceed”.
“A
continuous evaporation and condensation cycle must take place, patterns of
winds that are characterized by the converging winds, and a difference in air
pressure between the surface and high altitude.”
A National Weather Service WATCH is a message indicating that
conditions favor the occurrence of a certain type of hazardous weather. For
example if there is a severe thunderstorm is going on that means that a
hurricane will be created in the next 6 hours of so within the area of approximately
120-150 miles wide and 300 to 400 miles long. The NWS Storm Prediction Center issues such
watches. When there is a severe thunderstorm two things can be done. A
hurricane watch or a hurricane warning could be preceded. A hurricane watch is
issued when there is a threat of a hurricane expected in the next 24 hours or
even less. A hurricane warning is issued when a threat of a hurricanes are
different. Over the past couple of years hurricane warning systems have
provided some time for people to evacuate their homes, weather those are islands
of simply homes close to water. However because the population is rapidly
growing it has become that much more difficult to evacuate people from their
homes and keep them safe. Over 80% of
the population now living in hurricane-prone areas has never experienced the
core of a "major" hurricane. Many of those people have lived through
weaker storms. “The result is a false impression of a hurricane's damage
potential. This often leads to complacency and delayed actions, which could
result in the loss of many lives.”
“Violent storms such as
hurricanes exist not to disrupt lives and cause harm, but rather as nature's
safety valve - a means for the fluid systems of the planet (such as air) to
redistribute the excess heat energy received in tropical latitudes,
transporting it toward the cooler poles.”
In conclusion I could say tons
about hurricanes. They are not here to make us suffer but they are here to
assure the balance of nature, if we put it that way. Hurricanes might be one of
the world’s most dangerous natural disasters but we have them for good reasons.
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