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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…