Why This Hurricane Season Has Been So Catastrophic Summary

For those in the know, hurricane season is the time of year gulf coast surfers have the highest hope for quality surf. The thought of a hurricane is certainly bittersweet with the danger it can potentially cause for the general population but it has been a quite some time since the gulf has gotten significant attention from tropical activity. Hurricanes Ike and Gustav in 2008 were really the last time the gulf experienced serious swell. For the most part, hurricane season

Over the course of humanity, there have been several notable types of disasters ranging from severe floods, earthquakes, tornados, fires, ice storms, bombings, tropical storms, and hurricanes. Many individuals have experienced some form of these disasters throughout their life, either natural or manmade. “Surveys suggest that 13–30% of individuals will be exposed to one or more natural disasters in their lifetime” (Jacob, 2015, p. 512). Along the eastern and southern United States coastlines, the more common disaster associated with these areas are hurricanes. “Each year, on average, 10 tropical storms, of which six become hurricanes, develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of Mexico from June to November. Many of these remain over the ocean; however, about five hurricanes strike the United States coastline every three years” (Hurricanes, nd, para 4). Based on this average, roughly two hurricanes per year make landfall. Depending on the severity, that is two large areas with several

There is speculation that climate change may have also have contributed to the storms intensity. Global warming may have made Sandy wetter and stronger. Hurricanes and tropical storms are fueled by warm water evaporating into the air. Records indicate that ocean surface temperatures are up 0.9 degrees

The Unites States Has already bin hit by several hurricanes in the past few months, and this isn’t at all the end of it. Many climatologists speculate that this is going to continue well in to October, making our hurricane season a bit longer then usual. Many people are terrified, and scared think this is unusual, but that isn’t the case. Hurricane after hurricane is not unusual in hurricane season. In fact this years case, is very similar to 2005 case of hurricanes, when we had Katrina, Rita, and Wilma all hit at similar times. Many people, including Pope

In this text the author talks about some major hurricanes that have affected us. First, we have Hurricane Harvey. Harvey started as a tropical storm August 17th and 56 hours later it was a Category 4 Hurricane. Harvey hit the city of Rockport on the 25th and pounded Houston for 4 days straight. Harvey ended up bringing 1.3 metres of rain and killing 82 people. Next up was Irma, by August 31st Irma was a Category 5 hurricane. On September 6th Irma ravished the Caribbean islands. Barbuda was hit the hardest, being wiped out by a 2.5 metre storm surge. In the Florida Keys, there was a 4 metre storm surge. In mainland Florida, 106 million litres of sewage was released from pumps due to power outages. The text said that winds were 300km/h, and that

The book continues by describing hurricanes and what causes them. Hurricanes are storms with strong, swirling winds up to 200 mph and can be more than 300 miles wide. These high winds are often destructive to cars, trucks, power lines, buildings and even roads. Hurricanes need heat and moisture to form. Then, “the Earth’s rotation gives the winds a twist.” (14) If the hurricanes stay near warm water, it has plenty of energy to stay strong. However, many hurricanes weaken as they reach land, since there is no warm water on land. The authors explained that there are four stages of

On May 12, 2008, in the Sichuan Province in China, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9

A hurricane is a storm with a violent wind, particularly a tropical cyclone in the Caribbean. Hurricanes typically originate in the Atlantic basin, and are classified by the Saffir-Simpson Wind scale (oceannservice.noaa.gov). These winds are rated from 1-5, based on the storm’s maximum sustained winds (oceannservice.noaa.gov). In return, the higher the rating, the greater the hurricane’s potential for property damage. It would behoove one to take extra precautions when living in an area that is subject to tropical storms. Hurricanes are likely to occur during June 1st and November 30th. Though there have been instances were hurricanes have occurred outside of it, this time frame is more commonly known as “Hurricane Season” (oceanservice.noaa.gov).

“The biggest hurricane in the world known as the Great Galveston Hurricane occurred in the United State”. For every hurricane you prepare for it before it hits. “The deadly hurricane resulted in about 1000 deaths and an estimated damage of about $25 billion in today’s currency.” “They cause destruction to property and loss of life every year.” “Hurricanes, also known as cyclones

Debates over the impact of global warming on weather patterns around the globe have been the source of intense scrutiny in recent years. One such debate that has seen increased attention in the scientific community is: What impact does global warming have on hurricane frequency and intensity? Since the especially intense hurricane season in 2005 that spawned the devastating storms of “Katrina” and “Rita” this question has spawned a lot of media attention as well. However before we can even begin to answer the question posed by the title of the paper we must first explore; What is a hurricane? How it is formed? And we must also examine what is meant by the term global warming?

Temperatures tend to decrease as longitude increases in the northeast direction. One might expect to have the greatest hurricane development in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico based solely on temperature distribution. Warmer sea surface temperatures provide energy for the maintenance of hurricanes, and that becomes evident when Hurricane Katrina increases from a Tropical Depression to a Category 1 Hurricane. Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, notably in Katrina’s trajectory have temperatures over 30° C. Hurricanes derive most

Pacific Ocean west of Peru hit 5 degrees above average, outpacing the abnormally warm temperatures seen at this time of year in 1997, which developed into the strongest El Niño on record” (latimes.com). California and a majority of South America have gotten unusual rainfall since January because of this El Nino effect. “Mudslides, heavy rainfall, one storm after another like a conveyor belt,” is how they described the oncoming weather for the Western region. This rise in sea temperature did not just cause heavy rainfall in the western states and the South America countries but caused droughts in places like Australia and Indonesia. The frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes have been more common since the early 80’s. “El Niño has already caused major effects across the world, fueling an active and unusually powerful hurricane season in the eastern Pacific Ocean, including Hurricane Patricia, which hit Mexico” (latimes.com). In addition to the elevated rainfall, it pushed hurricane season forward in Mexico and surroundings states. The world has experienced nine years since the last massive hurricane. This is a record soon to be broken because of the global warming effects.

The persistence of hurricanes and the frequency of the strongest hurricanes have all increased since the 80s. The contributions of human and natural causes to these increases are unknown. Hurricanes and storms are going to continue to increase as the climate becomes warmer. According to NASA, nine years without a major hurricane in the U.S. is going to only come along once every 177 years. This means hurricanes are going to continue growing as a threat.

Did you know that Hurricanes have killed approximately 1.9 million people worldwide over the past 200 years. (Karen lenhardt said in her 2017 article on facts about hurricanes). We are seeing more and more of these occur, this year we have already encountered 13 named storms, 7 of them being hurricanes. Only four other seasons since 1995 have had that many by Sept. 18. Just two more by the end of the year would put 2017 in the top 15 since 1851. Maggie Astor stated in her New York Times news report about the 2017 Hurricane season . We must take notice and learn about the hurricane process so that we are able to understand the stages that hurricanes go through to get to be so fierce and devastating to get the strength to kill that many people.

Climate change is also having an effect on the rain, snow, and the hurricanes. The strength of hurricanes are getting more and more powerful each year. According to a study done by, "Signs of Climate Change", in the 1950 hurricanes were between and category 2-3