extreme weather

EXTREME WEATHER

HURRICANES!!!!

HURRICANE FORMATION Form over warm, tropical ocean

waters. Sometimes called typhoons (Asia) Formed when air flows over warm

water (over 80 degrees), picking up large amounts of moisture and energy.

This flows into a low pressure core & tightens to form the “eye” or center.

The more heat energy there is, the stronger the winds become.

HURRICANE CHARACTERISTICS

Forms slowly over days

10-20 mile wide eye Can be up to 500

miles wide Classified by wind

speed in the Saffir-Simpson scale; category 1-5

Winds from 75-200 mph

Winds move counter-clockwise (northern hemisphere)

Most storms start off the coast of Africa and move west (Cape Verde storms)

Damage includes flooding, wind damage, & storm surge.

SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE

CAPE VERDE STORM

HURRICANE DAMAGE

HURRICANE ANDREW In 1992, Hurricane

Andrew, a category 5 hurricane made landfall in Florida.

At the time, it was the most costliest hurricane in history, causing over $26 billion in damages.

HURRICANE ANDREW

HURRICANE KATRINA Hurricane Katrina was

one of the most deadliest and devastating hurricanes in recorded history.

It was responsible for 1,800 deaths and over $81 billion in damages, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

HURRICANE KATRINA

HURRICANE KATRINA

TORNADOES

TORNADOES Powerful funnel-shaped columns of

spiraling air. Warm air and cool air colliding create

them Winds up to 300 mph. Measured on the Fujita Scale; 0-6. Generally they have small diameters

(300 ft.) and travel short distances (1 mile)

3 out of 4 tornadoes in the world occur in the U.S. (around 700 per year)

FUJITA SCALE

F1 TornadoF2 Tornado

F3 Tornado F4 Tornado

FUJITA SCALE

F5 Tornado

JOPLIN, MISSOURI On May 22, 2011 a

catastrophic, multi-vortex F5 tornado hit the town of Joplin, Missouri.

It killed 158 people and caused nearly $3 billion in damages making it the deadliest and costliest tornado in American history.

JOPLIN, MISSOURI

Before

After

BLIZZARDS, DROUGHTS, FLOODS

Blizzard - Heavy snowstorm w/ winds of more than 35 mph creating reduced visibility.

Floods - Water spreads out over normally dry land

Droughts – A long period of time w/o rain or minimal rainfall.- Droughts result in crop failures,

reduced levels of water in storage.

STORM OF THE CENTURY In 1993, a massive storm hit

the United States. Known as the “White

Hurricane”, this storm not only caused a blizzard, but heavy winds, rains and tornadoes.

Many states received several feet of snow. Tennessee got the worst with over 5 ft. of snow in some areas!

In total, more than 300 people died as a result of this storm.

FLOODS

THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1993

In 1993 a great flood occurred in the Mississippi River basin.

The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages and effecting over 30,000 square miles.

The floods claimed near 50 lives.

LANDSAT views of the Mississippi,Missouri and Illinois Rivers.

DROUGHT Drought is an extended

period of time when a region has a deficiency in its water supply whether surface or underground water.

A drought can last for months or years.

 It can cause significant damage[and harm on the ecosystem, agriculture of the affected region as well as damage to the economy.

DUST BOWL – 1930’S The Great Plains

(150,000 square mile region) was ravaged by drought.

Thousands of families were forced to flee and find work elsewhere.

Major contributor of the economic disaster known as the Great Depression that took over 10 years to recover from.

MORE FROM THE BOWL

MORE DUST

GHOST TOWN? In 2011, Texas was hit hard by

drought. The drought dried up areas so

much that in one town, it revealed some old history.

The city of Bluffton, Texas was purposefully flooded more 50 years ago to create Lake Buchanan.

Many parts of town were submerged under the 20-30 feet under the lake, that is, until the drought.

Since the drought, receding lakes have been revealing the foundations of buildings, streets and eerily, old gravesites…