Hurricanes Cycle A TEAM iTeachers aka Team 10
Questions and Answers
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When is Hurricane a good event?
o Believe it or not, hurricanes do bring some benefits. The most obvious one is that they bring
rain. Too much can be catastrophic, but some regions depend on hurricanes for their rainfall.
Half of Japan’s rainfall is the result of typhoons. In 1969, Hurricane Camille helped end the
threat of a drought in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky in the USA.
o Also, a hurricane churns up the water so much that surface water temperatures are lowered.
Sometimes they’re lowered enough to make conditions less favorable for other hurricanes in
the same area. Last, if it weren’t for hurricanes, the tropics would be too hot. Hurricanes suck
up the heat and shift it away from the equator.
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Where they are most commonly formed?
o The water must be at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.5 Celsius) down to at least 150 feet (50
meters), scientists estimate
o They never cross the equator, nor do they occur near it.
Hurricanes and cyclones are born in waters at least eight
degrees north or south of the equator. The rotation of the
earth sends them off on a track that arcs away from the
equator.
Jeffrey Mellefont, Bondi Beach
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Do hurricanes produce hail?
o There are several reasons why hail rarely reaches the surface during a hurricane. You would
think a hurricane would be so powerful that it would produce large hail. It is not so though.
The freezing level is very high in a hurricane (often around 500 millibars (~5.8 kilometer
altitude). In fact, a 500 millibar temperature above freezing is fairly rare but it occurs
routinely in hurricanes. The enormous amount of latent heat of condensation and the warm
saturated tropical air contribute to a very warm troposphere in the hurricane environment.
The warm core structure of a hurricane will usually melt hail before it reaches the ground.
There is also a shorter vertical growth region for hail since the freezing level is very high.
The wind environment and lack of intense instability are also important. Very strong winds
will blow the hail horizontally as it falls giving it more time to melt since it is not falling
straight down. Also, the updraft in a hurricane is not as intense as that associated with a
supercell thunderstorm. Hail requires a very strong updraft. While the updraft in a hurricane
is strong, the energy is distributed over a large area and the updrafts are not of supercell
intensity.
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Do all hurricanes spin a certain direction and in what direction?
Hurricanes spin counterclockwise on the northern hemisphere and clockwise on the southern
hemispheres.
Which has been the costliest hurricane in history?
o Hurricane Katrina was the most expensive at about $76,000,000,000. 1,604 people died and it
was the most deadliest hurricane in history.
Do human actions cause hurricanes?
o Many believe that greenhouse gases are causing waters to warm and create more hurricanes
but not enough research has been established to support this idea.
o
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Does El Nino and la Nina have anything to do with the amount of hurricanes that we have each year?
o The Nina is thought to increase the temperature of waters and keeps moisture on the northern
side of the states causing droughts. During El Niño moisture is concentrated in the southern
areas and the possibility of hurricanes increase.
Are hurricanes and typhoons caused by the same factors?
o Yes, typhoons and hurricanes are the same thing. The regions where they form name them
differently.
What caused so many hurricanes in 2005?
o Many blame it on global warming but many contradicting reports say otherwise.
Have hurricanes become worse over the years?
o No, it depends on landfall, populations, and structure strengths. It also depends on warning
and watches to prepare the populations.
What needs to be done?
o
We need to do research and concentrate on a solution to prevent this event from
happening again.
o
Interview anyone that was alive during that time or that might have experienced this type
of or even this event.
Problem Statement
Does Global Warming affect the atmosphere and hydrosphere enough to create stronger hurricanes?
Works Cited
http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=40
www.livescience.com/3815-hurricanes-form.html
www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/403/
Hurricanes by Seymour Simon, Texas Treasures, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
http://ezineArticles.com/?expert=jaKob_culver