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Climatic Hazards > What conditions lead to tropical storms (hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones) and tornadoes and in what ways do they represent a hazard to people? > Flashcards

What conditions lead to tropical storms (hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones) and tornadoes and in what ways do they represent a hazard to people? Flashcards

1
Q

What are the features of tropical storms and hurricanes?

A
  • Sustain wind speeds of more than 119km h-1
  • Deposit massive amounts of rain in a short time
  • Give rise to deadly storm surges in coastal areas
  • Are highly destructive
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2
Q

How do hurricanes form?

A
  • High humidity releases latent heat
  • Sea temperature of more than 26-27 degrees Celsius for at least 60m depth
  • More than 5 degrees north or south of equator for Coriolis effect to impact spin
  • Almost constant vertical conditions
  • Divergent airflow with height to draw air upwards
  • Unstable air – surface winds converge
  • Two moist tropical airstreams meet and denser one undercuts the other
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3
Q

How do hurricanes develop?

A
  • Move westward due to earths rotation
  • Continue to grow as condensation releases heart energy and picks up warmth (energy) from the sea
  • Break up over land (friction and little moisture) or as they move out of tropics, as sea gets cooler
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4
Q

What are some characteristics of hurricanes?

A
  • Central clear ‘eye’ of descending air
  • Around eye, massive cloud walls with rapid uplift
  • 12km high, 200-500km in diameter
  • High volume rainfall – up to 500mm in 24 hours
  • Very low air pressure – 900mn
  • Eye wall dominated by intense thunderstorms
  • Movement difficult to predict
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5
Q

What are primary impacts of hurricanes?

A

o Homes destroyed

o Deaths and injuries from flying debris

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6
Q

What are secondary impacts of hurricanes?

A 
o	Flooding
o	Pollution (sewage, drains etc)
o	Disease
o	Hunger
o	Fires (power lines down)
o	Transport disrupted
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7
Q

What are tertiary impacts of hurricanes?

A

o Long term economic impacts (e.g cost, destruction of infrastructure, loss of jobs etc)

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8
Q

What are the environmental impacts of hurricanes?

A
  • Relief – landslides, mudflows
  • Drainage – floods, waterlogging
  • Vegetation – trees destroyed, habitats destroyed
  • Pollution of water supplies – disease
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9
Q

What are the social impacts of hurricanes?

A
  • Health – injuries and deaths, disease, depression
  • Housing – destroyed, temporary shelter, forced to migrate
  • Social unrest – looting, family break up, tension
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10
Q

What are the economic impacts of hurricanes

A
  • Infrastructure – destroyed (e.g roads, power, schools_
  • Agriculture – cash and food crops lost, pollution, tree crops hard hit
  • Transport – bridges destroyed, road and rail damage, loss of aeroplanes
  • Trade – loss of exports, need to import, cost of aid
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11
Q

What is used to measure hurricane strength?

A

The Saffir-Simpson scale

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12
Q

When did hurricane Katrina slam into the Gulf Coast of Louisiana?

A

29th August 2005

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13
Q

What category was hurricane Katrina?

A

went from 5 to category 4

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14
Q

How many people were killed in hurricane Katrina?

A

At least 1,500

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15
Q

How much damage was caused during Hurricane Katrina in the south-eastern part of USA?

A

At least $150 billion

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16
Q

How do hurricanes cause flooding?

A

• Hurricanes can cause the sea level around them to rise, this effect is called a storm surge. This is often the most dangerous characteristic of a hurricane, and causes the most hurricane-related deaths. It is especially dangerous in low-lying areas close to the coast
(In Katrina’s case - a lot of rainfall too)

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17
Q

Where did hurricane Katrina track over?

A

The gulf of Mexico - and hit New Orleans

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18
Q

Was the gulf of Mexico and New Orleans protected by hurricanes?

A

Yes - defence walls called levees

19
Q

What happened to the levees during hurricane Katrina?

A

• The levees were overwhelmed by the extra water, with many collapsing completely.

20
Q

How much of the city of New Orleans was flooded?

A

80%

21
Q

How did the wind affect the damage caused by hurricane Katrina?

A

produce a storm surge over the ocean which led to flooding in coastal areas and was responsible for many deaths.

22
Q

What were the effects after hurricane Katrina?

A
  • Thousands of homes and businesses destroyed.
  • Criminal gangs roamed the streets, looting homes and businesses and committing other crimes.
  • Thousands of jobs lost and millions of dollars in lost tax incomes.
  • Agricultural production was damaged by tornadoes and flooding. Cotton and sugar-cane crops were flattened.
  • Three million people were left without electricity for over a week.
  • Tourism centres were badly affected.
  • A significant part of the USA oil refining capacity was disrupted after the storm due to flooded refineries and broken pipelines, and several oil rigs in the Gulf were damaged.
  • Major highways were disrupted and some major road bridges were destroyed.
  • Many people have moved to live in other parts of the USA and many may never return to their original homes.
23
Q

What is a tornado?

A

A violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. A distinctive funnel, made visible by the dust sucked up, and by condensation of water droplets, extend towards the ground from the cloud base.

24
Q

What conditions does there need to be for a tornado?

A
  • Seasonal: June- November in northern hemisphere

* Often a remnant of a tropical storm

25
Q

How do tornadoes form?

A
  1. Two air masses, one cold and dry, the other warm humid, meet
  2. The boundary between the warm and cold air forms a cold front. Sharp contrasts in pressure exist on either side of this, causing wind to veer abruptly and change direction with height
  3. Cold dry air lies above the warm humid air
  4. Powerful up draughts develop as warm air becomes unstable. Rapidly rising air inclines the initial spinning motion towards the vertical
  5. Eventually, rapid rotation extends downwards towards the surface as a tornado
26
Q

How do tornados develop?

A
  • Continue to grow as condensation releases latent heat energy
  • Break up over land (due to friction and little moisture) where land is cooler
27
Q

What are the characteristics of tornados?

A
  • Small and short lived (rarely over an hour) but highly destructive
  • Elongated funnel of cloud (vortex) in contact with cloud and grounf
  • 200m in diameter
  • High volume rainfall
  • Twisting wind rotation so lifts objects
  • Very steep pressure gradient – centre is at very low pressure – pressure difference so great that buildings ‘explode’
  • Movement difficult to predict but tend to follow certain routes (e.g tornado alley in Kansas)
28
Q

How is tornado strength measured?

A

Using the Fujita scale

29
Q

What are the primary effects of a tornado?

A

destruction of buildings, crops, deaths

30
Q

What are the secondary effects of a tornado?

A

cost of rescue, loss of power, depression

31
Q

What are the tertiary effects of a tornado?

A

– long-term economic impacts, e.g. cost, loss of jobs, etc.

32
Q

What are the environmental impacts of tornados?

A
  • Drainage – choked with wind-blown debris
  • Vegetation – trees destroyed/uprooted, habitats destroyed
  • Pollution of water supplies - disease
33
Q

What are the social impacts of tornados?

A
  • Health – injuries and deaths, disease, depression
  • Housing – destroyed, temporary shelter
  • Social unrest, looting
34
Q

What are the economic impacts of tornados?

A
  • Infrastructure – destroyed, e.g. power, schools
  • Agriculture – cash and food crops lost, pollution, tree crops hard hit
  • Transport – bridges destroyed, road and rail damage, loss of aeroplanes
  • Cost of aid
  • Industrial capacity reduced – damaged buildings, loss of power etc
35
Q

Where is tornado alley?

A

In the US mid west, between the Rockies and the Appalachians

36
Q

What happens when thunderstorms group together?

A

They form supercells

37
Q

When tornadoes originate in supercells what do they produce?

A

intense rainfall and damaging hail showers

38
Q

Where is Indiana?

A

In tornado alley

39
Q

When was the Indiana tornado?

A

November 2005

40
Q

What were the characteristics of the Indiana tornado, November 2005?

A
  • Developed along a squall line along a cold front
  • 4 tornadoes formed 2 supercells
  • Cut a swathe of damage 400m wide and 66km long
  • Wind speeds reached 320km/h
  • It lasted 10 hours
  • Unusual, as it occurred in November, at 1.50am
41
Q

How many were killed/injured from the Indiana tornado November 2005?

A
  • 25 killed and 230 injured
42
Q

How much $ worth of damage did the Indiana tornado November 2005 cause?

A
  • US$92 million of damage
43
Q

How many people were left without power and how many mobile homes were destroyed because of the Indiana tornado?

A
  • 25,000 left without power

- 225 mobile homes destroyed

44
Q

What were the responses to the Indiana tornado November 2005?

A
  • Rescue services were on site very quickly, as they were prepared
  • US $2.4 million of state aid made quickly available for housing etc.
  • Long-term grants for rebuilding

Climatic Hazards (5 decks)

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