Hurricane Melissa

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Hurricane Melissa

• By Melissa Wrzesien
• Science 5th
• September 25, 2003

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What is a hurricane???

• First, I want you to know that there are three
  categories smaller than a hurricane
  
• Tropical disturbance/tropical wave
• Tropical depression
• Tropical storm
• A tropical storm is not as extreme as a
  hurricane. A hurricane is a tropical storm with
  winds over 74 miles per hour.

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Hurricanes are different from other storms
because they form in the summer to fall time
period over warm water (80º or warmer, often in
the tropics, Atlantic Ocean, and/or Gulf of
Mexico) and when the water is warm the air is
warm so the hurricane can strengthen and become
even more powerful.

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• Five things that make hurricanes different from
  big storms are
  
• Hurricanes have no fronts
• Hurricane winds weaken with height
• The centers of hurricanes are warmer than their
  surroundings
  
• Air sinks at the center of a hurricane
• Hurricanes weaken rapidly over land

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• There are five different levels of hurricanes
  according to the Saffir-Simpson scale.
  

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Now that you know the different levels of
hurricanes, it would be helpful to know how we
form. First the wind blows the clouds clockwise a
nd we start pulling up ocean water. Then the
bottom water moves counterclockwise.
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Next, air sinks into the center of us (the eye).
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• Wind spins around the eye, where we are the
  strongest.

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• As the wind flows higher it becomes weaker and
  flows clockwise.

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• Now that you know how we form it might be
  helpful to know what is needed for us to even
  form in the first place.
  
• We need
• Ocean water above 80F (the warm part needs to be
  around 200 feet deep)
  
• Warm, humid air
• Winds blowing
• High pressure in the upper atmosphere

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Death

• You know about our birth and what is needed for
  us to live but now you must learn about our
  death. Yes, even hurricanes will die sometime.
  Before I tell of our horrible death I want to say
  that I love easterly winds and hate westerly
  ones. Easterly winds keep us going but the evil
  westerly winds tear us apart. I dont understand
  why they like to kill things, but a hurricane
  cant know everything.
• Westerly winds arent the only thing that can
  kill us. When we go over land we die because we
  dont get the warm water that we need to survive.
  We live a short life, I know, but its a great
  one.
• Wait, you know how we are born and die but you
  still need to know about everything in between.

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Our Life Stages

• Thunder storms start forming into a swirl that
  is considered a tropical depression.
  
• Tall storms gather toward the center-its now a
  tropical storm.
  
• Eye forms and the winds reach 74 miles per hour,
  making it officially a hurricane.
  
• Hurricane hits land and weakens-becomes a
  non-tropical storm.
  

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• I think you have learned enough about hurricanes
  at this point in time. Im off because now that
  Im a category 3 hurricane I can go hit land. I
  will take the path Hurricane Fran took because
  she is my hero. Hope to see some of you guys
  when I touch down in the Carolinas!!!

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Bibliography

• Information from
• http//asterix.ednet.lsu.edu/edtech/webquest/cane
  quest.htm
  
• http//www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/science.
  htm
  
• Pictures from
• http//www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/whurwhat/whurwh
  at.htm
  
• http//www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/stories/
  2001/2001-07-19-hurricanes-amm.htm
  
• http//www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/images/hurrican
  e-fran-nasa1.gif