Hurricanes Final
The 1962 Columbus Day Storm in the Pacific Northwest was caused by
An extra-tropical cyclone that originally was a western Pacific typhoon.
Why were many houses built after 1980 more severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew than those built earlier?
Because of inadequate building inspections during construction.
The deadliest tropical cyclone on record killed between 300,000 and 500,000 people in East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh) in 1970. In 1997 another strong tropical cyclone struck the same region, but only 100 people were killed. Why were there fewer deaths in 1997 than in 1970?
By 1997, cyclone shelters had been constructed that provided nearly 1 million people with protection from the storm surge.
_______ are models that solve mathematical equations to predict the future state of the atmosphere without explicitly considering data from similar past events.
Dynamical models
True or False: In the last 20 years, hurricane intensity forecasts have improved just as much as hurricane track forecasts.
False
True or False: The Atlantic hurricane season tends to be more active when there is an El Nino in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
False
Which of the following statements about changes in a warming climate is most certain?
Global sea levels will continue to rise.
Which natural disaster has the fastest rotational wind speeds?
Hurricanes
Since the satellite age, the number of tropical cyclones per year worldwide has been relatively constant. However, individual basins like the north Atlantic can have widely varying numbers of tropical cyclones in different years. Why?
In a given year, natural variations in global climate such as El Nino can create more or less favorable conditions for tropical cyclones in different regions of the world.
What is an effect of global warming that could possibly increase the intensity of future tropical cyclones?
Increased tropical sea surface temperatures
If you want to observe clouds at nighttime, what satellite images will be useful?
Infrared (IR) only
Hurricane Mitch (1998) is the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane ever on record (after the Great Hurricane of 1780). What made Hurricane Mitch so deadly?
Intense rains led to extreme flooding and mudslides.
How did Hurricane Andrew affect the US insurance industry?
Many insurers went out of business because they could not afford to pay out all of the claims from storm damage.
What would cause a tropical cyclone to weaken or dissipate?
Moving over land; Strong vertical wind shear
The longest tropical cyclone season in the world is in the
Northwest Pacific Ocean.
What data is used in short-term (5 days or less) forecasts of hurricanes?
Satellite imagery;Aircraft measurements;Ocean buoy measurements; Weather radar
Which of the following statements correctly describes the relationship between the size and intensity (in terms of wind speed) of hurricanes?
Size and intensity are unrelated; storms of very different sizes may produce equally strong winds.
Which of the following statements about the levees in New Orleans is correct?
The Army Corps of Engineers was largely blamed for the failure of the levees; The levees started to fail a few hours after Katrina made landfall and continued to fail over the next several days; The levees were essential to the safety of New Orleans since a large portion of the city lies below sea level.
Why don't hurricanes form along the equator?
The Coriolis force is too weak at the equator.
Prior to 1960, we did not realize that there were more Eastern Pacific hurricanes each year on average than in the Atlantic. Why?
The Eastern Pacific is not a region with many shipping lanes, removing potential witnesses to the storm; The tracks of most Eastern Pacific hurricanes take them away from land; No weather satellites were monitoring the region.
What affects the motion of tropical cyclones?
The change in the strength of the Coriolis force with latitude; The trade winds in the tropics; The westerlies in the midlatitudes
Why is the front right of the eye of a hurricane the most hazardous for ships?
The high winds on the right side create large waves just forward of the storm.
The Atlantic seasonal hurricane forecast issued by the National Hurricane Center predicts
The number of named tropical storms; The number of hurricanes; The number of major (Category 3 or higher) hurricanes.
Which potential hurricane tracks would likely produce the largest storm surge in Charleston Harbor?
The one pointed towards it from the coast and below it
In which region are the cloud tops the highest in an IR image of a hurricane?
The ones near the eye of the storm
Which of the following statements correctly describes the forecasts made 24 hours before Hurricane Katrina made landfall?
The predicted track of the hurricane was very accurate; The National Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings that emphasized that the strength of the storm was unprecedented and would cause catastrophic damage.
What is a reason for why tropical storms do not form over the southeastern Pacific Ocean?
The sea surface temperatures are too low to sustain tropical cyclones.
How did the extremely small size of Cyclone Tracy impact the ability of the Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Center to forecast the path and intensity of the storm?
The small size made it very hard to determine the current strength of the storm since no measurements happened to be taken near its center.
Which aspects are direct contributors to the strength of a hurricane's storm surge?
The speed of the hurricane's winds; The low pressure in the storm's eye; The slope of the ocean floor
Which of the following statements describes what may happen to a tropical cyclone after it recurves and remains over the ocean?
The tropical cyclone can transition into an intense midlatitude low.
Which scenario will most likely result in locally enhanced precipitation from a tropical cyclone?
The tropical cyclone makes landfall in a mountainous region.
The radar image below was taken from a reconnaissance flight through Hurricane Hugo on September 15, 1989 when the storm was near its peak intensity. Which enclosed region in the image is a spiral rainband?
Upper tail end
The first media reports about Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans were:
Very misleading.
Regardless of the effects of global warming, destruction in the United States resulting from tropical cyclones will likely increase in the future because
coastal development continues and is even subsidized by government flood insurance.
Hurricanes stir up the ocean beneath them, _______ the surface of the ocean, which tends to _______ the hurricane.
cooling; weaken
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the government and people of New Orleans have
developed housing more suitable for withstanding flooding;blocked the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet to prevent storm surge waters from finding an easy route to the city
In the satellite image below, the region located at the center of the tropical cyclone, devoid of cloudiness, is called the _______ and air within this region is _______.
eye; sinking
About half of the deaths associated with Hurricane Camille occurred as a result of hurricane's landfall in southern Mississippi. The other half mostly occurred in Virginia as a result of
flash flooding from heavy rains.
Once a tropical cyclone moves inland and into mountains, the greatest threat to life comes from
flooding.
As the winds in a tropical cyclone circle the eye, the winds near the surface are also moving _______ the eyewall and winds aloft are also moving _______ the eyewall.
in towards; out away from
The advent of _______ made airborne reconnaissance of hurricanes feasible.
instrument flying
Hurricane Camille became so intense in part because
it passed over an extremely warm current in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic basin usually peaks in _______ when _______ are the warmest.
late summer and early fall; sea surface temperatures
Over the past 20 years in the north Atlantic basin, tropical cyclone track forecasting has improved _______ and tropical cyclone intensity forecasting has improved _______.
significantly; little
In connection with Hurricane Katrina, the Superdome was
the designated place of refuge for residents who could not evacuate.
The winds are strongest in the right-hand half (northern half if the storm is moving to the west) of a northern-hemisphere hurricane because in the right-hand half,
the hurricane's rotating winds add to the winds in the larger environment that are carrying it forward.
What contributed to the disaster in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina
the large size of the hurricane caused very large storm surges that led to flooding. the levees, which were intended to protect the city from flooding, were not effective at holding back flood waters. the city lies, on average, below sea level, making it prone to flooding.
Because of the prevailing winds in the atmosphere, hurricanes generally move ______ near the equator and ______ when they move to the mid-latitudes.
westward; eastward
When are tropical systems named in the Atlantic basin?
when they reach tropical storm strength (sustained winds >39 mph)