Natural Disasters
By: Jenna B.
Flood
Blizzard
A blizzard is a violent snowstorm at a minimum speed of 35 miles per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile every three hours.
- a storm with dry, driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold.
- a heavy and prolonged snowstorm covering a wide area.
There has been a blizzard in Minnesota. The worst blizzards in the United States occur in the upper Plains, from 1959 through 2000, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota led the nation in the most blizzards. Blizzards affect about 26 million people and cost an average of $572 million in damages.
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8374130_states-do-blizzards-occur.html#ixzz2t71vts5c
Wild Fire
A wildfire is an uncontrollable and rapidly spreading fire, occurring on wildland, rangeland or brushland. Also referred to as wildland fires or vegetation fires, these fires travel at an average speed of 15 miles per hour destroying everything on their track. On an average, about 1.2 million acres of woodlands in the United States, burn every year due to wildfires. Following are the major factors that lead to a wildfire.
Wildfires are often regarded as a hazard, due to the fact that they not only pose a threat to life and property, but also cause environmental pollution. If uncontrolled, a wildfire can engulf anything that comes in its path within minutes. Read on to find what induces such fierce conflagrations. Extreme hot temperatures lead to drying up of the vegetation of that particular area and can aggravate a wildfire by fueling it all the more. Moreover, an already ignited fire can spread over large distances with wind as its medium. Extreme hot temperatures lead to drying up of the vegetation of that particular area and can aggravate a wildfire by fueling it all the more. Moreover, an already ignited fire can spread over large distances with wind as its medium.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-causes-wildfires.html