Cyclone, Hurricane and El Nino Reading
Read the following 4 pages and answer the following questions.
1. What type of pressure system form cyclones?
2. How do cyclones spin in different hemispheres?
3. Explain how tornadoes and cyclones are related?
4. What conditions cause cyclones to form?
5. What is the weather like in the “eye” of the storm?
6. Name the main bodies of water hurricanes form over?
7. What is the main purpose of hurricanes?
8. _____ % of the Earth is covered in oceans.
9. Does water or land hold heat better?
10. So does water or land have a higher specific heat? (not from the reading, from your brain)
11. What conditions cause a hurricane to form?
12. What is the main source of energy for hurricanes?
13. What happens when hurricanes travel over cold ocean water?
14. How long do hurricanes typically last?
15. How is the path of a hurricane decided?
16. What areas around the U.S. experience hurricanes yearly?
17. What types of damage do hurricanes cause on land?
18. What is the “normal” weather for the Pacific Ocean around the equator?
19. Describe “Walker circulation”.
20. What can cause the trade winds to blow less or stop blowing?
21. What happens to the temperature of the Pacific Ocean if the trade winds stop blowing?
22. What does El Niño move from the western Pacific to towards the Americas and places such
as Australia, Indonesia and India?
23. During El Niño upper level ___________ _____________ reverse themselves and blow the
opposite way.
24. What happens to the Pacific Ocean during a La Niña?
25. Draw a Venn diagram to compare and contrast El Niño and La Niña. Include as MUCH
INFORMATION as possible. (You may draw it on the back).