Formation and Movement of Hurricanes - Essay Example

? and Hurricanes Introduction A hurricane is a large, powerful storm with very strong winds and heavy rains that cause destruction where it passes through. A hurricane is a natural disaster meaning that there are nearly non-existent measures that can be taken to avert their occurrence. However, there are many measures that can be taken to mitigate the loss and damage of property and deaths that they cause when they occur (Kislow, 2008). A hurricane is a tropical cyclone for those that form in the Atlantic part of the world water bodies. There is a season where the cyclones form, mostly at the end of the summer when the temperature of the water rises, and the temperature difference is at its greatest. Before a storm reaches the level of a hurricane, it first becomes a tropical depression, then a tropical storm (Ackerman and Knox, 2013). Even when it is classified as a hurricane, there are still several categories depending on their strengths as will be pointed later in this literature. Formation and Movement A hurricane forms when there is a major temperature difference between air temperature and that of the water body. This happens during a range of particular times each year creating what is known as a hurricane season. During this time, many develop, some strong some negligible (Huang, 2012). A hurricane forms when the warm ocean water evaporates making the air humid and forming low lying clouds. This creates a low pressure forcing wind to rush inwards towards the area that the warm water is evaporating. This wind forces air upward and flow with the air up then outwards. In a strong hurricane, this forms the eye of the storm which may be as large as an area of 18 km radius. The humid air forms the cloud of the storm which will later fall as heavy rainfall. Lastly, the light winds steer the storm because of its low-pressure centre propelling it and acting as its source of energy. A hurricane gathers momentum when travelling across warm waters but drastically loses its energy when travelling across land or cold waters (Edwards, 2013). This is because the warm waters are the primary source of energy fuelling the hurricane, which is not available on land. A hurricane thus forms above a large warm water body and is propelled by winds and may travel across land where they cause massive destruction. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Katrina and Sandy are the two costliest hurricanes in the history of the US. They occurred 7 years apart, Hurricane Katrina formed in 2005 while Sandy formed in 2012. Hurricane Katrina remains the deadliest and the most destructive hurricane that ever formed off the coast of Atlantic Ocean with property damage estimated to be $81 billion. Hurricane Sandy is the second most destructive to date, and the property damage is estimated to be at $68 billion. The following is a contrast and comparison of the two deadliest hurricanes to hit the US. Path Both of these storms originated from the Pacific, around the Caribbean countries; however, their exact places of origin differ. Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 25th 2005. It crossed Southern Florida area causing massive destruction. It then moved across the Gulf of Mexico before making its second landfall in South East Louisiana before moving to Mississippi where it lost its energy and died out (Barnes, 2007). Hurricane Sandy may have been less destructive as compared to Katrina, but it covered a wider area. In fact, Hurricane Sandy affected 7 countries and 24 states in the US alone. Hurricane Sandy developed deep in the Caribbean Sea on October 22nd 2012 as tropical depression. It quickly upgraded to a tropical storm in less than 6 hours. In 48 hours, it had been graded ass a hurricane and made its first landfall near Jamaica’s capital, Kingston as a category one hurricane. On October 25th, it had hit Cuba, then Bahamas on October 26th reaching the US on October 29th where it made its landfall at Brigantine, New Jersey. It later spread causing direct and indirect damages in the US affecting the whole of Eastern Seaboard from Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Jersey to New York (Senauth, 2013). Classification Hurricanes are categorized mainly according to the storm intensity. This means there are other ways of categorizing hurricanes for example using their size where a variety of metrics such as the radius of the storm, and the radius of the vanishing wind. The storm intensity provides better categorization strategy where the maximum wind speed becomes the factor under consideration (Edwards, 2013). Category 1 storm are not as catastrophic as Category 5. Category 1 has a sustained wind speed of 74 to 95 mph, which is harmful and cause considerable destruction. Category 2 has a sustained wind speed of 96 to 110 mph; the wind is extremely dangerous. Category 3 has a sustained wind speed of 11 to 130 mph, and these winds have a devastating damage in the area they travel across. Category 4 hurricanes is catastrophic and sustains a wind speed of 131 to 150 mph while Category 5 has a sustained wind speed of more than 150 mph and are extremely catastrophic and can flatten building tens of kilometers inwards from the coastline (Simpson, Anthes and Garstan, 2003). Both Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy were category 3 at the time of their landfall in the US. This, however, does not mean that was the maximum wind speed or category they attain. For instance, when Hurricane Katrina made its first landfall in South Florida, it was category 1, but then it strengthened to category 5 as it travelled across the Gulf of Mexico and weakened again making its second landfall in South East Louisiana as a category 3. Hurricane Sandy, on the other hand, made its first landfall in Jamaica as category 1 and when on to pick speed over the Caribbean Sea to category 2 then 3 when it was reaching US. Injuries, Deaths and Extent of Damage Hurricane Katrina caused a property damage of $81 billion and 1833 people died as a direct or indirect consequence of the storm. The worst damage was along the coastline, especially the Mississippi beachfront where cars and boats were rammed against buildings, and the piers washed inland. The water reached up to 19 kilometers from the beach flooding more than 10 meters in height (Barnes, 2007). In Mississippi, any structures within a kilometer were completely flattened causing a power outage which left over 3 million people without electricity. The hurricane also destroyed 44 oil facilities causing an oil spill of over 7 million gallons. The roads and bridges were also destroyed, for instance, the Biloxi-Ocean springs bridge and Highway 90. Of the 1833 people who died, 1577 were from Louisiana while 238 from Mississippi (Kislow, 2008). Hurricane Sandy as stated earlier was less destructive though it also managed $68 billion property damage in the US alone. At least 286 people died as a result of the hurricane. 72 of these deaths were direct and 88 were indirect bringing the total in the US to 160. Just like in the case of Hurricane Katrina there was power outage and flooded streets, tunnels, and subways. As a result of destroyed roads a lot of people were cut out from supply of fresh water and food, and this shortage caused more deaths. Buildings were also destroyed leaving nearly a million people homeless. These two were surely the most destructive hurricanes to hit the US considering their huge damage and death toll (Senauth, 2013). References Ackerman, S., and Knox, J. (2013). Meteorology. New York: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Barnes, J. (2007). Florida’s Hurricane History. New Orleans: UNC Press Books. Edwards, J. (2013). Tropical Cyclone Formation. HurricaneZone.net. Retrieved from: http://www.hurricanezone.net/articles/tropicalcycloneformation.html Huang, S. (2012). Hurricane Formation and Movement. Tripod.com. Retrieved from http://lliwsseh90.tripod.com/Porfolio/Hurricane/formation_movement.html Kislow, P. (2008). Hurricanes: Background, History and Bibliography. Chicago: Nova Publishers. Levitt, J., and Whitaker, M. (2009). Hurricane Katrina: America’s Unnatural Disaster. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. Senauth, F. (2013). In the Midst of Super storm Sandy. New York: AuthorHouse. Read More