✅HAZARDS 3.1.5.5 - Storm Hazards

Question 1

What is a tropical storm?

Answer 1

A violent rotating storm which occurs at mid latitudes, ie the tropics

Question 2

How do tropical storms form?

Answer 2

Strong upward movement of air draws water vapour up from the ocean
Evaporated air cools as it rises, condenses to form thunder clouds
Condensing air releases energy which powers the storm and draws up even more water
Several small thunderstorms combine to form a giant spinning storm
Storm develops an eye where air rapidly descends.
Upon landfall, storm loses energy and it slows and weakens

Question 3

Where are hurricanes found?

Answer 3

Over the US and Caribbean

Question 4

Where are cyclones found?

Answer 4

South East Asia, South Pacific, India, East Africa

Question 5

Where are typhoons found?

Answer 5

Japan, Philippines

Question 6

When do tropical storms form?

Answer 6

After the warmest months of the year (Jul/Aug), when sea temperatures are highest (27.5 C)

Question 7

Where are the strongest winds found?

Answer 7

The eyewall

Question 8

What is the Coreolis force?

Answer 8

Deflects objects in a rotating system, due to the Earth’s rotation

Question 9

Which way does the Coreolis force deflect objects in the Northern hemisphere?

Answer 9

To the right, so they move upwards on the globe
Clockwise

Question 10

Which way does the Coreolis force deflect objects in the Southern hemisphere?

Answer 10

To the left, so they move downwards on the globe

Question 11

What is a storm surge?

Answer 11

An abnormal rise of water, generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tide

Question 12

How are storm surges formed?

Answer 12

When the storm blows the ocean surface and creates vertical circulation in the water, which gains height in shallower water

Question 13

Which areas are at risk from storm surges?

Answer 13

Lowland coastal areas

Question 14

What factors can affect storm surges?

Answer 14

Storm intensity, speed and size as well as coastal features such as bays and estuaries

Question 15

How are strong winds formed by storms?

Answer 15

When pressure changes rapidly over a small distance, and air flows from high pressure to low pressure

Question 16

Which areas are at risk from strong winds?

Answer 16

Coastal regions, as the storm looses energy once it reaches land

Question 17

How are the strongest winds created?

Answer 17

By the biggest differences in pressure

Question 18

What are landslides?

Answer 18

Involves the movement of rock, earth or debris, can be caused by heavy rain

Question 19

Why can paricular areas of land slide?

Answer 19

When they have two separate layers, one of stable bed rock and another of loose, unconsolidated sediment

Question 20

What is a common form of disaster associated with tropical storms?

Answer 20

Heavy rainfall and flooding

Question 21

Where does the heaviest rain occur?

Answer 21

In the eyewall

Question 22

Why do floods occur?

Answer 22

Because the ground becomes saturated with the heavy rain and then the water builds up and rivers burst their banks

Question 23

How can storms be predicted?

Answer 23

Future events can be predicted using ones in the past and the frequency of storms can also show patterns

Question 24

What can be used to gauge wind speeds, pressure and precipitation?

Answer 24

Aircraft and drones

Question 25

How can meteorologists help people to prepare?

Answer 25

By giving a picture of the flooding or weather systems a storm may cause and the areas it may hit

Question 26

How can satellites be useful?

Answer 26

They can track the storm and give a hemispheric view of it, as well as 3D images and sea surface temperature

Question 27

What temperature must the sea surface be for a storm to form?

Answer 27

28 degrees

Question 28

What is a Category 1 storm?

Answer 28

Very dangerous winds produce some damage, damage to trees and powerlines as well as some homes

Question 29

What is a Category 5 storm?

Answer 29

Catastrophic damage will occur, high percentage of homes destroyed, total roof failure and wall collapse, power outages

Question 30

What scale is used to categorise storms?

Answer 30

The Saffir-Simpson Scale

Question 31

What do wind speeds have to reach to be a category 5 storm?

Answer 31

157mph

Question 32

What is done by the US Air Force and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?

Answer 32

They fly aircraft through storms to gauge wind speeds, barometric pressure, rainfall and snow as well as dropping sensors which fall through the storm and send back data

Question 33

Which is the most useful satellite for monitoring storms?

Answer 33

The TRMM satellite - Tropical Rainforest Monitoring Mission

Question 34

What has TRMM helped to discover?

Answer 34

Eyewall ‘hot towers’ through its CT scans of storms

Question 35

What are eyewall hot towers?

Answer 35

Rainclouds that reach the lowest layer of the atmosphere, bringing heat to high altitudes

Question 36

Distribution of tropical storms

Answer 36

usually 5°-20° North and South
Typically East to West, due to prevailing winds like trade winds
Curved trajectories, towards the poles due to coriolis effect
Need over 27°C to form

Question 37

Trends of tropical storms

Answer 37

no evidence they are increasing in frequency or intensity yet
although should do as sea levels rise
predicted 2-11% by 2100 rise in avg. intensity
But rising heat could increase wind shear, meaning overall fewer storms, predicted, to decrease 6-34% in frequency

Question 38

Why are tropical storms more predictable

Answer 38

Their conditions are known
Seasonality known (July to Oct typically, although winter hurricanes sometimes happen, but rarely)
Their paths aren’t known until days prior

Question 39

Conditions for tropical storms

Answer 39

over 27°C
Over 70m deep
Low wind shear (difference in wind speeds at different heights, too much will split the storm apart)

Question 40

Adaptation for tropical storms

Answer 40

Houses on stilts, avoid storm surge damage (big waves caused by storms)
e.g., in the Philippines

Question 41

Can tropical storms be prevented

Answer 41

No
example: Project Stormfury in the 1960s, used cloud seeding with chemicals to alter prescription
Failed + was expensive

Question 42

Prediction and Preparation

Answer 42

Evacuation can cost $1m per km^2 evacuated, $2-3m in some parts of US
Development= preparedness usually
Even areas that rarely receive them, only due to stuff like El Nino, like in California where only 1 death, manage well