Hurricane Mathew

Photo courtesy of NPR. All rights reserved.

Hurricane Mathew caused widespread devastation this week in parts of the Caribbean and along the southeast coast of the US. Unfortunately, hurricanes are a fact of life along the world’s coasts.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. All rights reserved.

Hurricane Facts

• A hurricane is an intense tropical storm with powerful winds and heavy rain. They also create tornadoes, high waves and widespread flooding.
• Other names for hurricanes include cyclone, typhoon and tropical storm. The different names indicate where the storm takes place. Tropical storms that form in the Atlantic or Northeast Pacific (near the United States) are called hurricanes. Those that form in the Northwest Pacific (near Japan) are called typhoons. Storms that form in the South Pacific or Indian oceans are called cyclones.
• Hurricanes usually start in tropical areas of the world.
• They develop over warm water and use the water as an energy source.
• Hurricanes lose strength as they move over land.
• Coastal regions are most at danger from hurricanes.
• Hurricanes are regions of low atmospheric pressure (also known as a depression).
• The wind flow of hurricanes in the southern hemisphere is clockwise while the wind flow of hurricanes in the northern hemisphere is counterclockwise.
• Weather in the eye — the center — of a hurricane is usually calm. The eye can be anywhere from 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) in diameter to over 200 miles (320 kilometers), but they are usually around 30 miles (48 kilometers). The winds around the eye are usually the strongest.
• Hurricanes have seasons when they are most likely to form. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. The Pacific season is from May 15 in the East Pacific Ocean, and June 1 in the Central Pacific. They both end on November 30.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. All rights reserved.

Hurricanes are tracked by weather satellites, weather radar, and specially equipped airplanes. Also, there are many apps and websites available for hurricane trackers. iDigital Times recently published an article about some of the best ones.

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is widely used to determine a hurricane’s strength. There are 5 categories.

Category 1 – Winds between 74–95 mph. Very dangerous winds will produce some damage.

Category 2 – Winds between 96–110 mph. Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage.

Category 3 – Winds between 111–129 mph. Devastating damage will occur.

Category 4 – Winds between 130–156 mph. Catastrophic damage will occur.

Category 5 – Winds of 157 mph or more. Catastrophic damage will occur.

Map courtesy of Wikipedia. All rights reserved.

Hurricane History

1900 — The Galveston Hurricane is the deadliest hurricane in the history of the United States. It killed at least 8,000 people.

1970 – The Bhola Cyclone in Bangladesh is the deadliest hurricane in world history. It killed over 300,000 people with some estimates ranging as high as 500,000.

1980 – Hurricane Allen holds Category 5 strength for a combined three days.

1987 – Hurricane Emily holds the record for the most extreme forward speed of any hurricane. She progressed at nearly 70 mph versus the average forward speed of approximately 30 mph.

2004 – Hurricane Ivan spawns a record 127 tornadoes and reaches Category 5 status three separate times in its existence, tying Hurricane Allen for a record 3 days as a Category 5 storm.

2005 — Hurricane Katrina kills over 1,800 people in the United States and causes around $80 billion dollars’ worth of property damage. The city of New Orleans is particularly hard hit.

2012 – Hurricane Sandy hits the mid-Atlantic states of Connecticut, Washington DC, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. It also makes landfall in Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. The storm is directly responsible for at least 147 deaths.

2015 – Hurricane Patricia is the strongest hurricane in history based on maximum sustained winds. Patricia’s winds reached 215 mph on the morning of October 23, 2015.

2016 — Hurricane Mathew makes landfall over Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas in the Caribbean, and then moves north to Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. As of 10/8/2016, the storm has killed hundreds in the Caribbean (at least 300 in Haiti alone), 4 in Florida, and left more than 1.5 million people in the US without power.

— Lisa Dworkin