Hurricanes

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Hurricanes
By Amber Hunt
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How Do Hurricanes Form?

• Hurricanes form in tropical regions where the
  water is at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. They
  need to have moist air and equatorial winds that
  combine. Hurricanes start out as thunderstorms
  that move to warm, tropical oceans. They have
  three stages measured by wind speed
• Tropical depression - swirling clouds and rain
  with wind speeds of less than 38 mph
• Tropical storm - wind speeds of 39 to 73 mph
• Hurricane - wind speeds greater than 74 mph

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What Is The Wind Speed Of A Hurricane?
Hurricanes must have a wind speed of 75 miles per
hour or more. If the wind speed is below 75 miles
per hour then the storm is a tropical storm or a
tropical depression.
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There Were A Lot Of Hurricane Names
Why Do We Name Hurricanes?
We name hurricanes to help remember these
enormous storms and not get confused because
there can more than one hurricane at a time. For
many years, the hurricanes in the West Indies (a
series of islands in the Caribbean Sea) were
named after the Saints Day it was on. An
Australian meteorologist began giving women's
names to tropical storms before the end of the
19th century. In 1953, the U.S. National Weather
Service, which is the federal agency that tracks
hurricanes and issues warnings and watches, began
using female names for storms. In 1979, women
and men's names were used. One name for each
letter of the alphabet is selected, except for Q,
U and Z. For Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, the names
may be French, Spanish or English, since these
are the major languages bordering the Atlantic
Ocean where the storms occur. The World
Meteorological Organization uses six lists in
rotation. The same lists are reused every six
years. The only time a new name is added is if a
hurricane is very deadly or costly. If this
occurs the name is retired and a new name is
chosen. Some examples of Hurricane names are
Cristobal, Josephine, Marco, Arlene, Bret, Emily,
Jose, Ophelia, Philippe, Ernesto, Isaac, Nadine,
Gabrielle, Humberto, Noel, Olga, and Sebastien.
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How Much Damage Do Hurricanes Make?

• Hurricanes have huge waves causing it to come on
  land and destroy many things costing millions
  and sometimes billions of dollars to repair.
• Most hurricanes dont do much damage, but
  hurricanes like Katrina and Rita made a lot of
  damage. They had extremely strong winds and deep
  floods.

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The Damage Of Hurricanes

• Katrina occurred in 2005 and it costs 25 Billion
  of damage.
• Camille occurred in 1969 and it costs 1 Billion
  of damage.
• Dennis occurred in 1999 and it costs 125 Million
  of damage, killing only 4 people.