ch.20.3 assessment

What is a hurricane?

A hurricane is whirling tropical cyclones that produce high winds of at least 119 km per hour. They are a heat engine that are fueled by the energy given off when huge quantities of water vapor condense.

Explain why a hurricane quickly loses its strength as the storm moves onto land.

A hurricane quickly loses strength as it moves onto land because of lack of moisture and even friction with the land causes winds to die out.

How does a hurricane form?

A hurricane starts with a tropical disturbance that consists of disorganized clouds and thunderstorms. An inward rush of warm, moist surface air moves toward the core of the storm. The air turns upward and rises in a ring of cumulonimbus clouds. This doughnut-shaped wall surrounds the center of the storm is the eye wall. Near the top of the hurricane, the risig air is carried away from the storm center. This outflow provides room for more inward flow at the surface.

What is a thunderstorm?

A thunderstorm is a storm that generates lightning and thunder.

What causes a thunderstorm?

A thunderstorm is caused by warm humid air rising in a unstable environment.

What is a tornado?

A tornado is a series of violent windstorms that take the form of a rotating column of air called a vortex.

What kind of front is associated with the formation of tornadoes? Explain.

Hurricanes start a tropical disturbance so the front must be a maritime tropical because they are warm and they start in the water.

How does a tornado form?

Many tornadoes start with the formation of a mesocyclone. Stronger winds aloft cause lower winds to roll. Updrafts tilt the rolling air so that it becomes nearly vertical. When the rotating air is completely vertical and this is how the mesocyclone is formed. As the air streams inward, it spirals upward around the core.