Hurricanes

Introduction

Hurricanes are known by many names around the world: cyclones in the Indian ocean, hurricanes in the Atlantic and east Pacific, and typhoons in the Western Pacific. Contrary to popular belief, they are not known as Willy-Willies in Australia. Weaker storms are knows as tropical storms. All of these are inherently the same type of system and will be refered to as hurricanes for the purpose of this module, although in general scientific writings the term tropical cyclone will normally be used.

Hurricanes are one of nature's most powerful and destructive storms, and to some, its most beautiful. Frequently they destroy thousands of homes, kill thousands of people and cost humanity billions of dollars. It is for these and other reasons that it is important to be able to study and forecast these storms.

This module is about hurricanes. It will cover a brief climatology of them, where they form, their names in those regions, where they go, and their niche in the general circulation. It will also cover the basic dynamics of these storms: what they need to develop, what causes them to strengthen, and what eventually brings their demise. There will also be a section about forecasting the paths and locations of these storms and descriptions of the various features of these storms.

Learning Objectives

• Understand factors needed for hurricanes to form
• Understand hurricane structure
• Understand hurricane evolution

Table of Contents

1. Formation Areas
2. Environmental Factors For Development
3. Formation
4. Structure
5. Landfall, Conversion, and The End
6. Summary

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