Here are a few things you may need to learn about hurricanes. Take a short read and refresh yourself with the information, then take the quiz below to see how much you remember.
A hurricane is a tropical cyclone in which the maximum average wind speed near the centre (the “eye”) exceeds 74mph or 119Km/h. They are natural weather systems formed over warm seas when hot air from the surface is transferred upwards and condenses. This condensation forms clouds which spiral as the earth rotates.
The Saffir-Simpson Scale is the scale used to measure a hurricane’s strength. Hurricanes are grouped into 5 categories. Category 5 hurricanes are the strongest and category 1 hurricanes are the weakest.
In the 19th Century, an Australian weather man named Clement L. Wragge began naming hurricanes. Hurricanes are given names so that they are easier to track and identify. The only letters that are not used to make hurricane names are Q, U and Z. Today, The World Meteorological Organization uses six lists of names in rotation. These lists are reused every six years. If a hurricane is devastating, its name is retired and a new name is chosen for the list.
Hurricanes can bring heavy rains, which can cause floods, high winds which can be very destructive and they can cause storm surge, which is an abnormal rise in sea level, which can create large waves. The centre of a hurricane is called the “eye” and this is the calmest part of the hurricane.
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