Brief Overview Of Hurricanes

1. Brief Overview Of Hurricanes

2. Use the provided pamphlets and answer the following questions: 1. What provides the energy for a hurricane? What happens to the strength of a hurricane as it moves over land? 2. Describe the steps that take place during the life of a typical hurricane. (page 6) 3. How are hurricanes named? (pages 1-2) 4. What is the name of the scale to categorize hurricanes? How many categories does it contain? (page 2)

3. A. How do hurricanes form? B. How are hurricanes named? C. What do you remember about Hurricane Katrina of 2005?

5. A. How do hurricanes form? A hurricane forms when two opposing winds meet and begin to swirl over tropical oceans, usually between 5° and 20° north latitude. Around the middle of the low pressure area, warm, moist air, is forced aloft. As this air rises, it cools and condenses. The storm then becomes a large, swirling, low pressure system.

6. Hurricane Names Selected for the Atlantic Basin Taken from: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

7. Greek Alphabet

8. Taken from: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

10. Naming of Hurricanes • In 1953, the U.S. Weather Bureau officially started naming hurricanes after women--they were easy to pronounce, easy to remember, and were less likely to cause confusion than other methods. • In the late 1970’s, men’s names, as well as Hawaiian and Spanish names, were added. • Now alphabetical lists alternating male and female names are used (starting with A through W). • There are separate sets of names for hurricanes in the North Atlantic and for typhoons in the Pacific. • The lists of names for North Atlantic hurricanes are repeated every six years; if a hurricane has been especially deadly or damaging, its name is removed from the list.

13. Hurricane Katrina