Hurricanes & Tsunamis
Chris Coffield, Emily Bridgers, Josh Darby, & Alli Bousman
what is a tsunami and where do they normally occur?
Many large waves caused by a disturbance of the sea floor are called a tsunami. Tsunami is harbor wave in Japanese. Large tsunamis mostly happen in the pacific region.
What atmospheric conditions favor the development of hurricanes?
Low atmospheric pressure cold and hot air chases each other’s Moisture.
what is the classifacation system used for hurricanes?
Hurricanes are measured by their saffir-simpson hurricane scale and this scale puts hurricanes in categories from 1-5 based on the hurricanes wind speed. 74-95 mph winds are a category 1 hurricane. Hurricanes in a low category cause minimal damage to building structures. A category 5 hurricane has winds that go up to 155 mph and often comes with a high storm surge and is very destructive. Even though wind speed is used to measure strength, a storm surge is most often doing most of the damage
where in the US do most hurricanes commonly occur and when?
Hurricanes occur most in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the summer and fall. In the Pacific Ocean hurricanes are called cyclones.
how do hurricanes cause damage?
The strong winds can uproot trees; throw cars, and level buildings. A storm is first classified as a hurricane when its winds go faster than 74 miles per hour, most go as high as 200 miles per hour.