MAJOR HURRICANE HITS AMERICA
August 27th 2005
WHAT THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT
Do you live near the coast? Have you ever been in a hurricane? Well this article will tell you how to know if it is a hurricane. It will also teach you about hurricanes.
HOW HURRICANES ARE NAMED
Hurricanes are named by going through six lists of names. They alternate them each year. A name will be retired if the storm was really bad like Hurricane Katrina because it was a really destructive hurricane. Hurricanes are also named by the World Meteorological Organization.
HOW YOU CATEGORIZE A HURRICANE
You categorize hurricanes by their wind speeds. There is a scale that you can look at and tell what category the hurricane is. This scale is called the Saffi-Simpson Scale. A hurricane that is a category one hurricane has wind speeds from 74 mph to 95mph . A hurricane that is a category two hurricane has wind speeds from 96mph to 110mph. Now moving up to a category three hurricane which has wind speeds from 111mph to 130mph. A hurricane that is a category four hurricane has wind speeds from 131 mph to 154 mph. A hurricane that is a category five hurricane has wind speeds from 155mph and up. They are the worst hurricanes that can happen.
HURRICANE KATRINA
A famous hurricane is Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina is the costliest hurricane in America's history. In this costly storm there were 1,200 lives lost in the storm. When hurricane Katrina went into the Gulf of Mexico , it transformed from a tropical storm to a category five hurricane. But when Katrina hit Buras, Louisiana it was a category three hurricane. Katrina hit America on August 25th and 26th, 2005. When Katrina hit it caused a major amount of damage and that is what caused it to be the costliest storm in America's history.
KATRINA'S DAMAGE
This is picture of New Orleans flooded. Hurricane Katrina caused this damage in this photo.
TRACKING MAP
This is a photo of a tracking map for Hurricane Katrina. This shows where it makes landfall and where it goes.
SATELLITE PHOTO
This is a picture of a satellite image that a weather man uses to track a hurricane. This is a picture of a satellite image of the Hurricane Katrina.
HOW HURRICANES FORM
When a hurricane forms it forms over the ocean. Hurricanes form when they get heat from warm, ocean water. Hurricanes get strength from warm waters in the ocean. When a hurricane hits land it weakens because it has no warm ocean water to contain strength.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Now in this article I have told you how they categorize and name hurricanes. I have told you how hurricanes form and gain strength and how hurricanes weaken. The hurricane we learned about was Hurricane Katrina. Now remember this information and it will probably help you be safe!