How Does Mother Nature Show Her Fury?

What is Meteorology?

• Study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting

ATMOSPHERIC LAYERS• TROPOSPHERE:

weather occurs here; birds and planes fly here

• STRATOSPHERE: contains Ozone

• MESOSPHERE: Radio waves travel up to here

• THERMOSPHERE:– Ionosphere: aurora

borealis– Exosphere: satellites

What Causes the Weather?• Global movement of matter is

driven by the properties of water and energy

• Heat Transfer:– Radiation– Conduction– Convection

• Convection is the primary mechanism of energy transfer in the atmosphere, oceans and asthenosphere

What Causes Climate and Seasons?

• The shape of the planet and the tilt• Milankovitch Cycles: Like a top the Earth wobbles and

the length of the elliptical orbit changes every 100,000 years as well as the tilt, causing different latitudes to receive more or less sunlight

Cloud Types

Convection Cells

• Ferrel Cells: Exist from 30-60 degrees latitude N/S (Westerlies)

• Polar Cells: Cold, very dry dense air (Polar Easterlies)

• Jet Streams: Extremely fast moving winds found at boundaries of convection cells

What is the Coriolis Effect?

Can you identify the weather fronts?

How Does Mother Nature Show Her Fury?

• Thunderstorms– Floods– Hail– Wind– Lightning– Tornadoes

• Hurricane/Typhoon/Cyclone• Dust Storms• Blizzards

WHAT IS A TORNADO?

WHAT CAUSES A TORNADO?MOST TORNADOES ARE SPAWNED BY GIANT THUNDERSTORMS KNOWN AS “SUPERCELLS”

WHERE DO TORNADOES IN THE US OCCUR?

MOST TORNADOES IN THE US OCCUR IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN STATES FROM THE ROCKIES TO

THE APPALACHIAN MTNS, KNOWN AS “TORNADO ALLEY”

TORNADO FACTS

• AVERAGE # OF TORNADOES PER YEAR

• STATE WITH HIGHEST # OF TORNADOES

• TOP 5 TORNADO STATES

• STATES WITH LOWEST # OF TORNADOES

• 816

• TEXAS (AVG. 125)

• TEXAS(125), OKLAHOMA(52), KANSAS(48), FLORIDA(46), NEBRASKA(38)

• ALASKA, RI, HAWAII, VERMONT, OREGON

How are Tornadoes Measured?

HURRICANE SEASON!

• WHEN DOES HURRICANE SEASON BEGIN?• FROM JUNE TO NOVEMBER WITH SEPTEMBER BEING THE

MOST ACTIVE

• WHEN DOES A TROPICAL STORM BECOME A HURRICANE?

• WHEN ITS WIND SPEED EXCEEDS 75 MPH• MOST POWERFUL ATLANTIC HURRICANE ON RECORD IS

HURRICANE ALLEN IN 1980, WHICH REACHED 190 MPH

How Does Lightning Form?• Lightning occurs when there

is a charge separation in the cloud.

• As a thunderstorm grows, electrical charges build up within the cloud, with positive charges at the top, and negative charges at the bottom.

• Oppositely charged particles gather at the ground below the cloud.

WHICH STORM IS MORE DANGEROUS?

• SOME FACTORS TO CONSIDER ARE:– INTENSITY OF STORM (SCALES)– LOCATION OF STORM– HOW A STORM ORIGINATES &

PROGRESSES– DAMAGE IT CAUSES