1.
Tropical cyclone
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Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface and this energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as noreasters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of momentum imparted by the Earths rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they form within 5° of the equator. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter, Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. Cyclone refers to their nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect, in addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes. Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level, the environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as warm core systems. The near-surface wind field of a cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm, however, due to the Earths rotation, as air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically in order to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of the troposphere and this radius is typically coincident with the inner radius of the eyewall, and has the strongest near-surface winds of the storm, consequently, it is known as the radius of maximum winds. Once aloft, air flows away from the center, producing a shield of cirrus clouds
2.
Wind
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Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On the surface of the Earth, wind consists of the movement of air. Winds are commonly classified by their scale, their speed, the types of forces that cause them, the regions in which they occur. The strongest observed winds on a planet in the Solar System occur on Neptune, Winds have various aspects, an important one being its velocity, another the density of the gas involved, another its energy content or wind energy. In meteorology, winds are referred to according to their strength. Short bursts of high speed wind are termed gusts, strong winds of intermediate duration are termed squalls. Long-duration winds have various names associated with their strength, such as breeze, gale, storm. The two main causes of large-scale atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet, within the tropics, thermal low circulations over terrain and high plateaus can drive monsoon circulations. In coastal areas the sea breeze/land breeze cycle can define local winds, in areas that have variable terrain, mountain, Wind powers the voyages of sailing ships across Earths oceans. Hot air balloons use the wind to take trips, and powered flight uses it to increase lift. Areas of wind caused by various weather phenomena can lead to dangerous situations for aircraft. When winds become strong, trees and man-made structures are damaged or destroyed, Winds can shape landforms, via a variety of aeolian processes such as the formation of fertile soils, such as loess, and by erosion. Wind also affects the spread of wildfires, Winds can disperse seeds from various plants, enabling the survival and dispersal of those plant species, as well as flying insect populations. When combined with temperatures, wind has a negative impact on livestock. Wind affects animals food stores, as well as their hunting, Wind is caused by differences in the atmospheric pressure. When a difference in atmospheric pressure exists, air moves from the higher to the pressure area. On a rotating planet, air will also be deflected by the Coriolis effect, globally, the two major driving factors of large-scale wind patterns are the differential heating between the equator and the poles and the rotation of the planet. Outside the tropics and aloft from frictional effects of the surface, near the Earths surface, friction causes the wind to be slower than it would be otherwise
3.
Knot (unit)
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The knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, approximately 1.151 mph. The ISO Standard symbol for the knot is kn, the same symbol is preferred by the IEEE, kt is also common. The knot is a unit that is accepted for use with the SI. Etymologically, the term derives from counting the number of knots in the line that unspooled from the reel of a log in a specific time. 1 international knot =1 nautical mile per hour,1.852 kilometres per hour,0.514 metres per second,1.151 miles per hour,20.254 inches per second,1852 m is the length of the internationally agreed nautical mile. The US adopted the definition in 1954, having previously used the US nautical mile. The UK adopted the international nautical mile definition in 1970, having used the UK Admiralty nautical mile. The speeds of vessels relative to the fluids in which they travel are measured in knots, for consistency, the speeds of navigational fluids are also measured in knots. Thus, speed over the ground and rate of progress towards a distant point are given in knots. Until the mid-19th century, vessel speed at sea was measured using a chip log, the chip log was cast over the stern of the moving vessel and the line allowed to pay out. Knots placed at a distance of 8 fathoms -47 feet 3 inches from each other, passed through a sailors fingers, the knot count would be reported and used in the sailing masters dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, the difference from the modern definition is less than 0. 02%. On a chart of the North Atlantic, the scale varies by a factor of two from Florida to Greenland, a single graphic scale, of the sort on many maps, would therefore be useless on such a chart. Recent British Admiralty charts have a latitude scale down the middle to make this even easier, speed is sometimes incorrectly expressed as knots per hour, which is in fact a measure of acceleration. Prior to 1969, airworthiness standards for aircraft in the United States Federal Aviation Regulations specified that distances were to be in statute miles. In 1969, these standards were amended to specify that distances were to be in nautical miles. At 11000 m, an airspeed of 300 kn may correspond to a true airspeed of 500 kn in standard conditions. Beaufort scale Hull speed, which deals with theoretical estimates of maximum speed of displacement hulls Knot count Knotted cord Metre per second Orders of magnitude Rope Kemp
4.
Miles per hour
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Miles per hour is an imperial and United States customary unit of speed expressing the number of statute miles covered in one hour. Miles per hour is the also used in the Canadian rail system. In some countries mph may be used to express the speed of delivery of a ball in sporting events such as cricket, tennis, road traffic speeds in other countries are indicated in kilometres per hour, while occasionally both systems are used. For example, in Ireland, a considered a speeding case by examining speeds in both kilometres per hour and miles per hour. The judge was quoted as saying the speed seemed very excessive at 180 km/h but did not look as bad at 112 mph, nautical and aeronautical applications, however, favour the knot as a common unit of speed. 1 Mph =0.000277778 Mps Example, Apollo 11 attained speeds of 25,000 Mph, if Apollo 11 were to travel at 25,000 Mph from New York to Los Angeles it would reach Los Angeles in under 6 minutes
5.
Kilometres per hour
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The kilometre per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour. Worldwide, it is the most commonly used unit of speed on road signs, the Dutch on the other hand adopted the kilometre in 1817 but gave it the local name of the mijl. The SI representations, classified as symbols, are km/h, km h−1 and km·h−1, the use of abbreviations dates back to antiquity, but abbreviations for kilometres per hour did not appear in the English language until the late nineteenth century. The kilometre, a unit of length, first appeared in English in 1810, kilometres per hour did not begin to be abbreviated in print until many years later, with several different abbreviations existing near-contemporaneously. For example, news organisations such as Reuters and The Economist require kph, in Australian unofficial usage, km/h is sometimes pronounced and written as klicks or clicks. The use of symbols to replace words dates back to at least the medieval era when Johannes Widman, writing in German in 1486. In the early 1800s Berzelius introduced a symbolic notation for the chemical elements derived from the elements Latin names, typically, Na was used for the element sodium and H2O for water. In 1879, four years after the signing of the Treaty of the Metre, among these were the use of the symbol km for kilometre. In 1948, as part of its work for the SI. The SI explicitly states that unit symbols are not abbreviations and are to be using a very specific set of rules. Hence the name of the unit can be replaced by a kind of algebraic symbol and this symbol is not merely an abbreviation but a symbol which, like chemical symbols, must be used in a precise and prescribed manner. SI, and hence the use of km/h has now been adopted around the world in areas related to health and safety. It is also the system of measure in academia and in education. During the early years of the car, each country developed its own system of road signs. In 1968 the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals was drawn up under the auspices of the United Nations Economic, many countries have since signed the convention and adopted its proposals. The use of SI implicitly required that states use km/h as the shorthand for kilometres per hour on official documents. Examples include, Dutch, kilometer per uur, Portuguese, quilómetro por hora Greek, in 1988 the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration promulgated a rule stating that MPH and/or km/h were to be used in speedometer displays. On May 15,2000 this was clarified to read MPH, or MPH, however, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 101 allows any combination of upper- and lowercase letters to represent the units
6.
Maximum sustained wind
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The maximum sustained wind associated with a tropical cyclone is a common indicator of the intensity of the storm. Within a mature tropical cyclone, it is found within the eyewall at a distance defined as the radius of maximum wind, unlike gusts, the value of these winds are determined via their sampling and averaging the sampled results over a period of time. Surface winds are variable due to friction between the atmosphere and the Earths surface, as well as near hills and mountains over land. Over the ocean, satellite imagery determines the value of the sustained winds within a tropical cyclone. Land, ship, aircraft reconnaissance observations, and radar imagery can also estimate this quantity and this value helps determine damage expected from a tropical cyclone, through use of such scales as the Saffir-Simpson scale. However, the United States National Weather Service defines sustained winds within tropical cyclones by averaging winds over a period of one minute, measured at the same 10 metres height. This is an important distinction, as the value of the highest one-minute sustained wind is about 14% greater than a sustained wind over the same period. In most tropical cyclone basins, use of the satellite-based Dvorak technique is the method used to determine a tropical cyclones maximum sustained winds. The extent of banding and difference in temperature between the eye and eyewall is used within the technique to assign a maximum sustained wind. Central pressure values for their centers of low pressure are approximate, the intensity of example hurricanes is derived from both the time of landfall and the maximum intensity. The tracking of individual clouds on minutely satellite imagery could be used in the future in estimating surface winds speeds for tropical cyclones, ship and land observations are also used, when available. Doppler weather radar can be used in the manner to determine surface winds with tropical cyclones near land. Friction between the atmosphere and the Earths surface causes a 20% reduction in the wind at the surface of the Earth, surface roughness also leads to significant variation of wind speeds. Over land, winds maximize at hill or mountain crests, while sheltering leads to wind speeds in valleys. Compared to over water, maximum sustained winds over land average 8% lower, in most basins, maximum sustained winds are used to define their category. In the Atlantic and northeast Pacific oceans, the Saffir-Simpson scale is used and this scale can be used to determine possible storm surge and damage impact on land. In most basins, the category of the cyclone is determined from the cyclones maximum sustained wind. Only in Australia is this quantity not used to define the tropical category, in their basin
7.
Flood
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A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. The European Union Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water, in the sense of flowing water, the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods can also occur in rivers when the flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the flood plains of rivers. Some floods develop slowly, while others such as floods, can develop in just a few minutes. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, the word flood comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages. Deluge myths are stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution. Floods can happen on flat or low-lying areas when water is supplied by rainfall or snowmelt more rapidly than it can infiltrate or run off. The excess accumulates in place, sometimes to hazardous depths, surface soil can become saturated, which effectively stops infiltration, where the water table is shallow, such as a floodplain, or from intense rain from one or a series of storms. Infiltration also is slow to negligible through frozen ground, rock, concrete, paving, areal flooding begins in flat areas like floodplains and in local depressions not connected to a stream channel, because the velocity of overland flow depends on the surface slope. Endorheic basins may experience flooding during periods when precipitation exceeds evaporation. Floods occur in all types of river and stream channels, from the smallest ephemeral streams in humid zones to normally-dry channels in arid climates to the worlds largest rivers. When overland flow occurs on tilled fields, it can result in a flood where sediments are picked up by run off. Localized flooding may be caused or exacerbated by drainage obstructions such as landslides, ice, debris, slow-rising floods most commonly occur in large rivers with large catchment areas. The increase in flow may be the result of sustained rainfall, rapid snow melt, monsoons, the cause may be localized convective precipitation or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind a dam, landslide, or glacier. In one instance, a flood killed eight people enjoying the water on a Sunday afternoon at a popular waterfall in a narrow canyon. Without any observed rainfall, the rate increased from about 50 to 1,500 cubic feet per second in just one minute. Two larger floods occurred at the site within a week
8.
Atlantic hurricane
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An Atlantic hurricane or tropical storm is a tropical cyclone that forms in the Atlantic Ocean, usually in the summer or fall. A hurricane differs from a cyclone or typhoon only on the basis of location, a hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and a cyclone occurs in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean. Tropical cyclones can be categorized by intensity, Tropical storms have one-minute maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph, while hurricanes have one-minute maximum sustained winds exceeding 74 mph. Most North Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes form between June 1 and November 30, in recent times, tropical disturbances that reach tropical storm intensity are named from a predetermined list. On average, in the North Atlantic basin 11.3 named storms occur each season, the climatological peak of activity is around September 11 each season. In March 2004, Catarina was the first hurricane-intensity tropical cyclone recorded in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Tropical cyclones are steered by the flow throughout the depth of the troposphere. Specifically, air flow around high pressure systems and toward low pressure areas influence hurricane tracks, south of the subtropical ridge, surface easterly winds prevail. If the subtropical ridge is weakened by a trough, a tropical cyclone may turn poleward and then recurve. Poleward of the ridge, westerly winds prevail and generally steer tropical cyclones that reach northern latitudes toward the east. The westerlies also steer extratropical cyclones with their cold and warm fronts from west to east, generally speaking, the intensity of a tropical cyclone is determined by either the storms maximum sustained winds or lowest barometric pressure. The following table lists the most intense Atlantic hurricanes in terms of their lowest barometric pressure, in terms of wind speed, Hurricane Allen was the strongest Atlantic tropical cyclone on record, with maximum sustained winds of 190 mph. However, these measurements are suspect since instrumentation used to document wind speeds at the time would likely succumb to winds of such intensity, nonetheless, their central pressures are low enough to rank them among the strongest recorded Atlantic hurricanes. Owing to their intensity, the strongest Atlantic hurricanes have all attained Category 5 classification, Hurricane Opal, the strongest Category 4 hurricane recorded, intensified to reach a minimum pressure of 916 mbar, a pressure typical of Category 5 hurricanes. Nonetheless, the pressure remains too high to list Opal as one of the ten strongest Atlantic tropical cyclones, however, this was later superseded by Hurricane Patricia in 2015 in the east Pacific, which had a pressure reading of 872 mbar. Preceding Wilma is Hurricane Gilbert, which had held the record for most intense Atlantic hurricane for 17 years. The 1935 Labor Day hurricane, with a pressure of 892 mbar, is the third strongest Atlantic hurricane, since the measurements taken during Wilma and Gilbert were documented using dropsonde, this pressure remains the lowest measured over land. However, with a pressure of 895 mbar, Rita is the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico
9.
Pacific hurricane
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A Pacific hurricane is a mature tropical cyclone that develops within the eastern and central Pacific Ocean to the east of 180°W, north of the equator. Identical phenomena in the western north Pacific are called typhoons and this separation between the two basins has a practical convenience, however, as tropical cyclones rarely form in the central north Pacific and few cross the dateline. Documentation of Pacific hurricanes dates to the Spanish colonization of Mexico, in 1730, such accounts indicated an understanding of the storms. Between June and October 1850, Redfield observed five tropical cyclones along the southwestern coast of North America, in 1895, Cleveland Abbe reported the presence of many storms between 5° to 15°–N in the eastern Pacific, although many such storms dissipated before affecting the Mexican coast. Two years later, the German Hydrography Office Deutsche Seewarte documented 45 storms from 1832 to 1892 off the west coast of Mexico, despite the documentation of storms in the region, the official position of the United States Weather Bureau denied the existence of such storms. After California became a state and the discovery of gold there in 1848, such activity increased further after the Panama Canal opened in 1914, and the shipping lanes moved closer to the coast. By around 1920, Pacific hurricanes were officially recognized due to widespread ship observations, radio service, within 60 years, further studies of the regions tropical activity indicated that the eastern Pacific was the second most active basin in the world. During the 1920s, a few documents in the Monthly Weather Review reported additional storms within 2,000 mi off the Mexican coastline. The database was based on records held by the United States Navy and were interpolated from 12 hourly intervals to 6 hourly intervals based on a scheme devised by Hiroshi Akima in 1970. Initially tracks for the Central Pacific region and tracks for tropical depressions that did not develop into tropical storms or hurricanes were not included within the database, the archives format was significantly changed during 2013 to include non-synoptic best track times, non-developing tropical depressions and wind radii. During February 2016, the NHC released the 1959 Mexico hurricanes reanalysis and its effects in the central Pacific basin are usually related to keeping cyclones away from the Hawaiian Islands. Due to westward trade winds, hurricanes in the Pacific rarely head eastward, a second factor preventing tropical cyclones from forming during the winter is the occupation of a semi-permanent low-pressure area designated the Aleutian Low between January and April. Its presence over western Canada and the northwestern United States contributes to the occurrences of precipitation in that duration. In addition, its effects in the central Pacific near 160° W causes tropical waves form in the area to drift northward into the Gulf of Alaska. The retreat of this low allows the Pacific High to also retreat into the central Pacific, leaving a warm, Hurricane season runs between May 15 and November 30 each year. These dates encompass the vast majority of tropical activity in this region. The Regional Specialized Meteorological Center for this basin is the United States National Hurricane Center, previous forecasters are the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Hurricane Warning Center. The RSMC monitors the eastern Pacific and issues reports, watches and warnings about tropical weather systems and this area is, on average, the second-most active basin in the world
10.
International Date Line
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The International Date Line is an imaginary line of navigation on the surface of the Earth that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and demarcates the change of one calendar day to the next. It passes through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180° line of longitude but deviating to pass around some territories and this description is based on the most common understanding of the de facto International Date Line. See § De facto and de jure date lines below, the IDL is roughly based on the meridian of 180° longitude, roughly down the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and halfway around the world from the Greenwich meridian. In many places, the IDL follows the 180° meridian exactly, in other places, however, the IDL deviates east or west away from that meridian. These various deviations generally accommodate the political and/or economic affiliations of the affected areas, proceeding from north to south, the first deviation of the IDL from 180° is to pass to the east of Wrangel Island and the Chukchi Peninsula, the easternmost part of Russian Siberia. It then passes through the Bering Strait between the Diomede Islands at a distance of 1.5 kilometres from each island at 168°5837 W and it then bends considerably west of 180°, passing west of St. Lawrence Island and St. Matthew Island. The IDL crosses between the U. S. Aleutian Islands and the Commander Islands, which belong to Russia and it then bends southeast again to return to 180°. Thus, all of Russia is to the west of the IDL, and all of the United States is to the east except for the areas of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands. The IDL remains on the 180° meridian until passing the equator, two US-owned uninhabited atolls, Howland Island and Baker Island, just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, have the latest time on Earth. The IDL circumscribes Kiribati by swinging far to the east, almost reaching the 150°W meridian, kiribatis easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, have the most advanced time on Earth, UTC+14 hours. South of Kiribati, the IDL returns westwards but remains east of 180°, in much of this area, the IDL follows the 165°W meridian. Accordingly, Samoa, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu and New Zealands Kermadec Islands, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue, and French Polynesia are east of the IDL and one day behind. The IDL then bends southwest to return to 180° and it follows that meridian until reaching Antarctica, which has multiple time zones. Conventionally, the IDL is not drawn into Antarctica on most maps, in contrast, a west-to-east circumnavigation of the globe loses an hour for every 15° of longitude crossed but gains back a day when crossing the IDL. The IDL must therefore be observed in conjunction with the Earths time zones, on crossing it in either direction, the calendar date is adjusted by one day. For the two hours between 10,00 and 11,59 UTC each day, three different calendar dates are observed at the time in different places on Earth. For example, at 10,15 UTC Thursday, it is 23,15 Wednesday in American Samoa, Thursday in most of the world, during the first hour, all three calendar dates include inhabited places. During the second one of the calendar dates is limited to an uninhabited maritime time zone twelve hours behind UTC
11.
Typhoon
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A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean between 180° and 100°E. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, for organizational purposes, the northern Pacific Ocean is divided into three regions, the eastern, central, and western. While the RSMC names each system, the name list itself is coordinated among 18 countries that have territories threatened by typhoons each year. Only the Philippines use their own naming list for systems approaching the country, a typhoon differs from a cyclone or hurricane only on the basis of location. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, within the northwestern Pacific there are no official typhoon seasons as tropical cyclones form throughout the year. While the majority of storms form between June and November, a few storms do occur between December and May, on average, the northwestern Pacific features the most numerous and intense tropical cyclones globally. Like other basins, they are steered by the ridge towards the west or northwest, with some systems recurving near. The Philippines receive the brunt of the landfalls, with China, some of the deadliest typhoons in history have struck China. Southern China has the longest record of typhoon impacts for the region, Taiwan has received the wettest known typhoon on record for the northwest Pacific tropical cyclone basins. The term typhoon is the name in the northwest Pacific for a severe tropical cyclone, whereas hurricane is the regional term in the northeast Pacific. Elsewhere this is called a cyclone, severe tropical cyclone. The Oxford English Dictionary cites Urdu ṭūfān and Chinese tai fung giving rise to early forms in English. The earliest forms -- touffon, later tufan, tuffon, and others -- derive from Urdu ṭūfān, from 1699 appears tuffoon, later tiffoon, derived from Chinese with spelling influenced by the older Urdu-derived forms. The modern spelling dates to 1820, preceded by tay-fun in 1771 and ty-foong. The Urdu source word توفان ṭūfān comes via Persian from Arabic طوفان, the Chinese source is the word tai fung, cited as a common dialect form of Mandarin dà big and fēng wind. In Mandarin the word for the windstorm is 大风 and in Cantonese 大風, the modern Japanese word is also derived from Chinese, 台風. The first character in Japanese has a modern meaning of pedestal or stand. So the Japanese characters originally had a meaning of typhoon wind, the Ancient Greek Τυφῶν is not unrelated and has secondarily contaminated the word
12.
Storm surge
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Most casualties during tropical cyclones occur as the result of storm surges. The deadliest storm surge on record was the 1970 Bhola cyclone, the low-lying coast of the Bay of Bengal is particularly vulnerable to surges caused by tropical cyclones. The deadliest storm surge in the twenty-first century was caused by the Cyclone Nargis, the next deadliest in this century was caused by the Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people in the central Philippines in 2013 and resulted in economic losses estimated at $14 billion. Louis, Diamondhead and Pass Christian in Mississippi, a high storm surge occurred in New York City from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, with a high tide of 14 ft. The pressure effects of a tropical cyclone will cause the level in the open ocean to rise in regions of low atmospheric pressure. The rising water level will counteract the low pressure such that the total pressure at some plane beneath the water surface remains constant. This effect is estimated at a 10 mm increase in sea level for every millibar drop in atmospheric pressure, strong surface winds cause surface currents at a 45° angle to the wind direction, by an effect known as the Ekman Spiral. Wind stresses cause a phenomenon referred to as wind set-up, which is the tendency for water levels to increase at the downwind shore, intuitively, this is caused by the storm simply blowing the water towards one side of the basin in the direction of its winds. Because the Ekman Spiral effects spread vertically through the water, the effect is proportional to depth. The pressure effect and the wind set-up on an open coast will be driven into bays in the way as the astronomical tide. The Earths rotation causes the Coriolis effect, which bends currents to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. When this bend brings the currents into more contact with the shore it can amplify the surge. The effect of waves, while powered by the wind, is distinct from a storms wind-powered currents. Powerful wind whips up large, strong waves in the direction of its movement, although these surface waves are responsible for very little water transport in open water, they may be responsible for significant transport near the shore. When waves are breaking on a more or less parallel to the beach. The rainfall effect is experienced predominantly in estuaries, Hurricanes may dump as much as 12 in of rainfall in 24 hours over large areas, and higher rainfall densities in localized areas. As a result, watersheds can quickly surge water into the rivers that drain them and this can increase the water level near the head of tidal estuaries as storm-driven waters surging in from the ocean meet rainfall flowing from the estuary. This situation well exemplified by the southeast coast of Florida
13.
Civil engineering
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Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering, Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies. Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of human existence, during this time, transportation became increasingly important leading to the development of the wheel and sailing. The construction of pyramids in Egypt were some of the first instances of large structure constructions, the Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire, including especially aqueducts, insulae, harbors, bridges, dams and roads. In the 18th century, the civil engineering was coined to incorporate all things civilian as opposed to military engineering. The first self-proclaimed civil engineer was John Smeaton, who constructed the Eddystone Lighthouse, in 1771 Smeaton and some of his colleagues formed the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, a group of leaders of the profession who met informally over dinner. Though there was evidence of some meetings, it was little more than a social society. In 1818 the Institution of Civil Engineers was founded in London, the institution received a Royal Charter in 1828, formally recognising civil engineering as a profession. The first private college to teach engineering in the United States was Norwich University. The first degree in engineering in the United States was awarded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1835. The first such degree to be awarded to a woman was granted by Cornell University to Nora Stanton Blatch in 1905, throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as stonemasons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Knowledge was retained in guilds and seldom supplanted by advances, structures, roads and infrastructure that existed were repetitive, and increases in scale were incremental. Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician, used arithmetic in the 7th century AD, based on Hindu-Arabic numerals, Civil engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil engineering. The length of study is three to five years, and the degree is designated as a bachelor of engineering. The curriculum generally includes classes in physics, mathematics, project management, design, after taking basic courses in most sub-disciplines of civil engineering, they move onto specialize in one or more sub-disciplines at advanced levels. In most countries, a degree in engineering represents the first step towards professional certification. After completing a degree program, the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements before being certified. Once certified, the engineer is designated as a engineer, a chartered engineer
14.
Herbert Saffir
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Herbert Seymour Saffir was an American civil engineer who co-developed the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale for measuring the intensity of hurricanes. As recently as 2005 Saffir was the principal of Saffir Engineering in Coral Gables and he also published articles on designing buildings for high wind resistance. Originally from Brooklyn, Saffir graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1940 with a B. S. in civil engineering, Saffir worked for Dade County, Florida beginning in 1947 as an assistant county engineer, and worked on updating the county building code. Since that time, he had traveled extensively to study windstorm damage for clues to improvements and has been an advocate for stricter codes in hurricane-prone areas. Saffir survived the burning of the cruise ship SS Morro Castle on 8 September 1934, the ship was en route from Havana to New York when it caught fire and burned, killing a total of 137 passengers and crew members. On 21 November 2007 Herbert Saffir died of an attack at South Miami Hospital in Miami, Florida according to his son. Hurricane engineering Structural engineering Wind engineering Obituary in The Times,29 November 2007
15.
Robert Simpson (meteorologist)
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He was the co-developer of the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale with Herbert Saffir. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Robert Simpson survived the landfall of a hurricane at age six. Simpson graduated with honors from the Corpus Christi high school in 1929, fascinated by the weather, he went on to get a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Southwestern University in 1933, and a Master of Science degree in physics from Emory University in 1935. Finding no work as a physicist during the Great Depression, he taught music in Texas high schools, on April 16,1940, he was hired by the United States Weather Bureau. First assigned as an observer of meteorology at Brownsville, Texas. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he was promoted to forecaster at the New Orleans office, as part of a United States Weather Bureau scholarship, he did graduate work at the University of Chicago in 1943 and 1944. After a stint as a hurricane forecaster in Miami under Grady Norton, there he had his first flight into a tropical cyclone. After the war, he persuaded Air Force Hurricane Hunters to allow him to fly along on what he called piggy back missions, following VJ day and the dissolution of the weather school, Simpson returned to Miami. He was then assigned to Weather Bureau headquarters, working directly for Dr. Francis Reichelderfer, in 1949 Reichelderfer assigned Simpson to Hawaii to be in charge of consolidating the Weather Bureaus Pacific operations. There he founded a weather station on Mauna Loa, studied Kona lows. He continually urged Weather Bureau management to fund modest levels of hurricane research, Reichelderfer appointed Bob Simpson to head up the National Hurricane Research Project in 1955. For the next four years, Simpson navigated NHRP through the shoals of bureaucratic uncertainty, once NHRP was assured longevity in 1959, Simpson left the Project to finish his doctorate in meteorology at the University of Chicago, studying under his friend Dr. Herbert Riehl. On completing his degree in 1962, he returned to Washington to become the Weather Bureaus Deputy Director of Research, in 1961 he obtained a National Science Foundation grant to study seeding hurricanes with silver iodide. He put together an experiment using NHRP and United States Navy aircraft to seed Hurricane Esther, the encouraging results led the Weather Bureau and the Navy to start Project Stormfury in 1962, with Simpson as Director. He headed up the Project for the three years, including the seeding of Hurricane Beulah in 1963. He married Joanne Malkus in 1965 and persuaded her to take over as Director of Stormfury for the two years as he became Director of Operations for the Weather Bureau. In 1967 Simpson became Deputy Director of the National Hurricane Center, Simpson reorganized NHC, making it separate from the Miami Weather Bureau office, and established the position of hurricane specialist for NHCs senior forecasters. He retired from government service in 1974, turning NHC over to his Deputy Director Neil Frank, the Simpsons returned to Washington, where they established a weather consulting firm, Simpson Weather Associates in Charlottesville, Virginia
16.
National Hurricane Center
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The Technology and Science Branch provides technical support for the center, which includes new infusions of technology from abroad. Research to improve operational forecasts is done through the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project, during the Atlantic and northeast Pacific hurricane seasons, the Hurricane Specialists Unit issues routine tropical weather outlooks for the northeast Pacific and northern Atlantic oceans. When tropical storm or hurricane conditions are expected within 48 hours, the first hurricane warning service was set up in the 1870s from Cuba with the work of Father Benito Viñes. C. in 1902. The central office in Washington, which evolved into the National Meteorological Center and Weather Prediction Center, Hurricane advisories issued every six hours by the regional hurricane offices began at this time. The Jacksonville hurricane warning office moved to Miami, Florida in 1943, Tropical cyclone naming began for Atlantic tropical cyclones using the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet by 1947. In 1950, the Miami Hurricane Warning Office began to prepare the annual hurricane season summary articles, in the 1953 Atlantic season, the United States Weather Bureau began naming storms which reach tropical storm intensity with human names. The National Hurricane Research Project, begun in the 1950s, used aircraft to study tropical cyclones, on July 1,1956, a National Hurricane Information Center was established in Miami, Florida which became a warehouse for all hurricane-related information from one United States Weather Bureau office. The Miami Hurricane Warning Office moved from Lindsey Hopkins Hotel to the Aviation Building 4 miles to the northwest on July 1,1958, the Miami HWO moved to the campus of the University of Miami in 1964, and was referred to as the NHC in 1965. The Miami HWO tropical cyclone reports were regularly and took on their modern format in 1964. Beginning in 1973, the National Meteorological Center duties gained advisory responsibility for tracking and publicizing inland tropical depressions, the World Meteorological Organization assumed control of the Atlantic hurricane naming list in 1977. In 1978, the NHCs offices moved off the campus of the University of Miami across U. S. Highway 1 to the IRE Financial Building, male names were added into the hurricane list beginning in the 1979 season. The hurricane warning offices remained active past 1983, in 1984, the NHC was separated from the Miami Weather Service Forecast Office, which meant the meteorologist in charge at Miami was no longer in a position above the hurricane center director. By 1988, the NHC gained responsibility for eastern Pacific tropical cyclones as the former Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center in San Francisco was decommissioned, in 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the WSR-57 weather radar and the anemometer off the roof of NHCs/the Miami State Weather Forecast offices. The radar was replaced with a WSR-88D NEXRAD system in April 1993 installed near Metro Zoo, in 1995, the NHC moved into a new hurricane-resistant facility on the campus of Florida International University, capable of withstanding 130 mph winds. Its name was changed to the Tropical Prediction Center in 1995, after the name change to TPC, the Hurricane Specialists were grouped as a separate NHC unit under the Tropical Prediction Center, separating themselves from the Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch. On October 1,2010, the Tropical Prediction Center was renamed the NHC, the World Meteorological Organization continues to create and maintain the annual hurricane naming lists. Naming lists use a rotation, with the deadliest or most notable storm names retired from the rotation. The director of the National Hurricane Center is Richard Knabb, for the fiscal year of 2008, the budget for the NHC was $6.8 million
17.
Neil Frank
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Neil Laverne Frank is an American meteorologist and former director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida. He was instrumental in advancing both the scientific and informational aspects of hurricane forecasting and he retired as Chief Meteorologist at KHOU-TV in Houston. Dr. Frank announced his retirement effective May 2008 during his May 19 evening broadcast segment, Frank grew up in Wellington, Kansas, and attended nearby Southwestern College. After receiving his bachelors degree in chemistry in 1953 and doing some work, he moved on to Florida State University. Frank has been married over 60 years and has three children,10 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Prior to his studies in meteorology, Frank served in the United States Air Force where he received training as a weather officer. In 1961, he working as a forecaster for the National Hurricane Center. He was appointed director of the Center in 1974, while director, Dr. Frank also served as chairman of the International Hurricane Committee, which coordinates hurricane warnings with other countries in North America. He also participated in experiments conducted off the African coast. In 1987, he was called to testify as a witness before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science. To date, Frank is the longest serving director of the NHC, the only remaining communications link between the Hurricane Center and Brownsville was their amateur radio station on battery power and wire antenna. NHC and Brownsville discussed the strange behavior of the eye of Hurricane Allen while it stalled just off the Texas Coast for almost 2 hours, in June 1987, Frank retired from the National Hurricane Center and joined Houstons CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV. He was already well-known to the Houston public from his reports as Director of the National Hurricane Center, particularly those during Hurricane Alicia, Frank was the chief meteorologist for the television station for over 20 years, receiving numerous awards and recognitions. In December 2007, Frank announced that he would retire the year from broadcasting at KHOU-TV. Frank announced on the 10 PM news on Monday, May 19,2008 that he would retire at the end of May and he will continue to provide the station with special weather projects and hurricane coverage. Elected to council, American Meteorological Society, 1989-1992 term, first place in the 1989 Texas Press Awards, Best weathercast. 2004 recipient of the Belo William H. Seay Award
18.
Structural engineering
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They can also be involved in the design of machinery, medical equipment, and vehicles where structural integrity affects functioning and safety. Structural engineering theory is based upon applied physical laws and empirical knowledge of the performance of different materials. Structural engineering design utilizes a number of relatively simple structural elements to build complex structural systems, Structural engineers are responsible for making creative and efficient use of funds, structural elements and materials to achieve these goals. Structural engineers are responsible for engineering design and analysis, entry-level structural engineers may design the individual structural elements of a structure, for example the beams, columns, and floors of a building. More experienced engineers may be responsible for the design and integrity of an entire system. Structural engineering has existed since humans first started to construct their own structures and it became a more defined and formalized profession with the emergence of the architecture as distinct profession from the engineering during the industrial revolution in the late 19th century. Until then, the architect and the engineer were usually one. Only with the development of specialized knowledge of theories that emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The role of a structural engineer today involves a significant understanding of both static and dynamic loading, and the structures that are available to resist them. The complexity of modern structures often requires a great deal of creativity from the engineer in order to ensure the structures support and resist the loads they are subjected to. A structural engineer will typically have a four or five year undergraduate degree, Structural engineers are licensed or accredited by different learned societies and regulatory bodies around the world. The aim of that association is to exchange knowledge and to advance the practice of engineering worldwide in the service of the profession. Structural engineering dates back to 2700 B. C. E, when the step pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser was built by Imhotep, the first engineer in history known by name. Pyramids were the most common major structures built by ancient civilizations because the form of a pyramid is inherently stable. The limestone blocks were taken from a quarry near the build site, since the compressive strength of limestone is anywhere from 30 to 250 MPa, the blocks will not fail under compression. Therefore, the strength of the pyramid stems from the material properties of the stones from which it was built rather than the pyramids geometry. Throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as masons and carpenters. No theory of structures existed, and understanding of how structures stood up was extremely limited, knowledge was retained by guilds and seldom supplanted by advances
19.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
20.
Richter magnitude scale
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The Richter magnitude scale assigns a magnitude number to quantify the size of an earthquake. As measured with a seismometer, an earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times greater than an earthquake that registered 4.0 at the same distance. This means that, for instance, an earthquake of magnitude 5 releases 31.6 times as energy as an earthquake of magnitude 4. In the United States, the Richter scale was succeeded in the 1970s by the moment magnitude scale, the moment magnitude scale is now the scale used by the United States Geological Survey to estimate magnitudes for all modern large earthquakes. Richter derived his earthquake-magnitude scale from the apparent magnitude scale used to measure the brightness of stars and that fixed measure was chosen to avoid negative values for magnitude, given that the slightest earthquakes that could be recorded and located at the time were around magnitude 3.0. The Richter magnitude scale itself has no limit, and contemporary seismometers can register, record. M L was not designed to be applied to data with distances to the hypocenter of the earthquake that were greater than 600 km. Later, to express the size of earthquakes around the planet, Gutenberg and Richter developed a surface wave magnitude scale and these are types of waves that are recorded at teleseismic distances. The two scales were adjusted such that they were consistent with the M L scale and that adjustment succeeded better with the M s scale than with the M b scale. Each scale saturates when the earthquake is greater than magnitude 8.0, because of this, researchers in the 1970s developed the moment magnitude scale. The older magnitude-scales were superseded by methods for calculating the seismic moment, about the origins of the Richter magnitude scale, C. F. Richter said, I found a paper by Professor K. Wadati of Japan in which he compared large earthquakes by plotting the maximum ground motion against distance to the epicenter. I tried a similar procedure for our stations, but the range between the largest and smallest magnitudes seemed unmanageably large, dr. Beno Gutenberg then made the natural suggestion to plot the amplitudes logarithmically. I was lucky, because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil, the particular instrument used would become saturated by strong earthquakes and unable to record high values. The scale was replaced in the 1970s by the moment magnitude scale, for earthquakes adequately measured by the Richter scale, anything above 5 is classified as a risk by the USGS. Several scales have historically described as the Richter scale, especially the local magnitude M L. In addition, the body wave magnitude, m b, a couple of new techniques to measure magnitude are in the development stage by seismologists. All magnitude scales have been designed to give similar results
21.
Wind speed
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Wind speed, or wind flow velocity, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity. Wind speed is caused by air moving from high pressure to low pressure, Wind speed affects weather forecasting, aircraft and maritime operations, construction projects, growth and metabolism rate of many plant species, and countless other implications. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer but can also be classified using the older Beaufort scale which is based on observation of specifically defined wind effects. Wind speed is affected by a number of factors and situations and these include the pressure gradient, Rossby waves and jet streams, and local weather conditions. There are also links to be found between wind speed and wind direction, notably with the gradient and terrain conditions. Pressure gradient is a term to describe the difference in air pressure between two points in the atmosphere or on the surface of the Earth and it is vital to wind speed, because the greater the difference in pressure, the faster the wind flows to balance out the variation. The pressure gradient, when combined with the Coriolis effect and friction, Rossby waves are strong winds in the upper troposphere. These operate on a scale and move from West to East. The Rossby waves are themselves a different wind speed from what we experience in the lower troposphere, the wind gust was evaluated by the WMO Evaluation Panel who found that the anemometer was mechanically sound and the gust was within statistical probability and ratified the measurement in 2010. The anemometer was mounted 10 m above ground level, the pattern and scales of the gusts suggest that a mesovortex was embedded in the already strong eyewall of the cyclone. The now second highest surface wind speed ever recorded is 372 km/h at the Mount Washington Observatory,6,288 ft above sea level in the US on 12 April 1934. The anemometer, specifically designed for use on Mount Washington was later tested by the US National Weather Bureau, Wind speeds within certain atmospheric phenomena may greatly exceed these values but have never been accurately measured. Directly measuring these tornadic winds is rarely done as the violent wind would destroy the instruments, another method of estimating is to use Doppler on Wheels to sense the wind speeds remotely. The figure of 486 km/h during the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado in Oklahoma on 3 May 1999 is often quoted as the surface wind speed. However, another figure of 512 kilometres per hour has also quoted for the same tornado. Yet another number used by the Center for Severe Weather Research for that measurement is 486 ±32 km/h, however, speeds measured by Doppler radar are not considered official records. Wind speed is a factor in the design of structures. It is often the governing factor in the required strength of a structures design
22.
Hurricane Katrina
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Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. The storm is ranked as the third most intense United States landfalling tropical cyclone. Overall, at least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, total property damage was estimated at $108 billion, roughly four times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in the United States. Early the following day, the new depression intensified into Tropical Storm Katrina, the cyclone headed generally westward toward Florida and strengthened into a hurricane only two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach and Aventura on August 25. After very briefly weakening to a storm, Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26. The storm caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge, severe property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as Mississippi beachfront towns, over 90 percent of these were flooded. Boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland, over fifty breaches in New Orleanss hurricane surge protection were the cause of the majority of the death and destruction during Katrina on August 29,2005. Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, according to a modeling exercise conducted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, two-thirds of the deaths in Greater New Orleans were due to levee and floodwall failure. All of the studies concluded that the USACE, the designers and builders of the levee system as mandated by the Flood Control Act of 1965, is responsible. This is mainly due to a decision to use shorter steel sheet pilings in an effort to save money, exactly ten years after Katrina, J. Many other government officials were criticized for their responses, especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, several agencies including the United States Coast Guard, National Hurricane Center, and National Weather Service were commended for their actions. They provided accurate hurricane weather tracking forecasts with sufficient lead time, Hurricane Katrina formed as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23,2005, as the result of an interaction of a tropical wave and the remains of Tropical Depression Ten. It strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24, the tropical storm moved towards Florida, and became a hurricane only two hours before making landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura on the morning of August 25. The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico, on August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification, but caused the storm to nearly double in size, the storm rapidly intensified after entering the Gulf, growing from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours. This rapid growth was due to the movement over the unusually warm waters of the Loop Current. Katrina attained Category 5 status on the morning of August 28 and reached its peak strength at 1800 UTC that day, with sustained winds of 175 mph. However, this record was broken by Hurricane Rita
23.
Hurricane Ike
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In these places, Ike remains the costliest tropical cyclone on record. Several fluctuations in strength occurred before Ike made landfall on eastern Cuba on September 8, the hurricane weakened prior to continuing into the Gulf of Mexico, but increased its intensity by the time of its final landfall on Galveston, Texas on September 13. The remnants of Ike continued to track across the United States and into Canada, causing considerable damage inland, Ike was blamed for at least 195 deaths. Of these deaths,74 were in Haiti, which was trying to recover from the impact of three storms which had made landfall that same year. Seven people were killed in Cuba from Ike, in the United States,113 people were reported killed, directly or indirectly, and 16 were still missing as of August 2011. Due to its size, Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County region near Corpus Christi. Ike is now the third-costliest Atlantic hurricane of all time, only surpassed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the search-and-rescue operation after Ike is the largest search-and-rescue operation in Texas history. Ike was the major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The origins of Hurricane Ike can be traced back to a tropical wave first identified by the National Hurricane Center just within the western coast of Africa on August 28. The broad low-pressure continued to track westward and was considered to have sufficiently organized to be classified as a tropical depression at 06,00 UTC on September 1. By this time the cyclone had tracked 780 miles west of Cape Verde and these factors were also responsible for Ikes slow developmental trend that began after formation. Ikes gradual strengthening began to quicken early on September 3, with the strengthening of an intense rainband around the center of the storm, at roughly 15,00 UTC that day, microwave imaging indicated that a primordial eye was developing within the intensifying tropical storm. Tracking northwestward, the NHC upgraded Ike to hurricane status at 18,00 UTC based on satellite intensity estimates. During this time, Ike was centered 690 mi east-northeast of the Leeward Islands and was tracking west-northwestward as a result of a subtropical ridge to its northeast. After peaking in strength, a ridge of pressure to the storms west strengthened. Although wind shear abated and allowed for reintensification, Ike would fluctuate in strength over the few days. After passing near the Turks and Caicos Islands, Ike made its first landfall on Inagua in the Bahamas at 13,00 UTC on September 7 with winds of 125 mph. After passing over Inagua, the development of a double feature that usually denotes the beginning of an eyewall replacement cycle—slightly weakened Ike late on September 7
24.
Hurricane Charley
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Hurricane Charley was the third named storm, the second hurricane, and the second major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. Charley lasted from August 9 to August 15, and at its peak intensity it attained 150 mph winds and it made landfall in southwestern Florida at maximum strength, making it the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since Hurricane Andrew struck Florida in 1992. After moving slowly through the Caribbean Sea, Charley crossed Cuba on Friday, August 13 as a Category 3 hurricane, causing heavy damage and that same day, it crossed over the Dry Tortugas, just 22 hours after Tropical Storm Bonnie had struck northwestern Florida. It was the first time in history that two tropical cyclones struck the state in a 24-hour period. At its peak intensity of 150 mph, Hurricane Charley struck the tip of Captiva Island. Charley, the strongest hurricane to hit southwest Florida since Hurricane Donna in 1960 and it continued to the north-northeast along the Peace River corridor, devastating Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Cleveland, Fort Ogden, Nocatee, Arcadia, Zolfo Springs, Sebring, and Wauchula. Zolfo Springs was isolated for two days as masses of large trees, power poles, power lines, transformers. Wauchula sustained gusts to 147 mph, buildings in the downtown areas caved onto Main Street, ultimately, the storm passed through the central and eastern parts of the Orlando metropolitan area, still carrying winds gusting up to 106 mph. The city of Winter Park, north of Orlando, also sustained damage since its many old. Falling trees tore down power utilities and smashed cars, and their huge roots lifted underground water and sewer utilities, the storm slowed as it exited the state over Ormond Beach just north of Daytona Beach. The storm was absorbed by a front in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after sunrise on August 15. Damage in the state totaled to over $13 billion, Charley initially was expected to hit further north in Tampa, and caught many Floridians off-guard due to a sudden change in the storms track as it approached the state. Throughout the United States, Charley caused 10 deaths and $15.4 billion in damage, Charley was a compact, fast-moving storm, which limited the scope and severity of the damage. Charley began as a wave that moved off the west coast of Africa on August 4. It moved quickly westward and steadily organized over the open Atlantic Ocean, at this time, the National Hurricane Center in Miami designated the name Charley. A strong ridge of pressure to the systems north forced Charley to change track quickly to the west-northwest. It continued to strengthen and became a Category 1 hurricane on August 11, while 90 mi south of Kingston, the storm was being steered around the periphery of the high pressure area, and as a result, Charley changed direction toward the northwest. The following day, the core passed 40 mi southwest of Jamaica, the storm then passed 15 mi northeast of Grand Cayman, reaching Category 2 status just after passing the island
25.
Central Pacific Hurricane Center
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It is the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center for tropical cyclones in this region, and in this capacity is known as RSMC Honolulu. Based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, the CPHC is co-located with the National Weather Services Honolulu forecast office on the campus of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the Honolulu forecast office activates the CPHC when tropical cyclones form in, or move into, the Central Pacific region. The CPHC replaced the previous forecaster, the Joint Hurricane Warning Center, the CPHCs area of responsibility is the Central Pacific region, which is an administrative region, not a meteorological one. It is not a tropical cyclone basin, but is often referred to as the Central Pacific basin or Central North Pacific basin. The western edge of the area of responsibility, 180°W, is formally the antimeridian, though this coincides with the International Date Line for tropical latitudes, and thus these are often conflated. The region east of 140°W was formerly the responsibility of the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center, like the CPHC, it took responsibility in 1970, in this area, the hurricane season lasts from June 1 through November 30. Practically, storms may form in the Eastern Pacific region and move west, possibly affecting Hawai‘i, or in the Western Pacific basin and move west, smaller islands may also be affected, though this region is otherwise very sparsely populated. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center uses traditional Hawaiian names for hurricanes that form within its sphere of jurisdiction. It has formed four lists of names to choose from, as soon as all the names are exhausted from the first list, it moves on to the second, then third, then fourth, then back to the first and so on. Unlike the name list in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, the names do not start at A every year, four names have been retired, Iwa of 1982, Iniki of 1992, Paka of 1997 and Ioke of 2006. They were replaced by Io, Iolana, Pama and Iopa respectively, the next name to be used from the list is Walaka. Since the 1990s, the CPHC has used the Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System to create forecasts, advisories, National Hurricane Center Central Pacific Hurricane Center
26.
World Meteorological Organization
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The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization, which was founded in 1873 and its current Secretary-General is Petteri Taalas and the President of the World Meteorological Congresss, its supreme body, is David Grimes. The Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. WMO has a membership of 191 Member States and Territories as of February 2014, the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization was signed 11 October 1947 and established upon ratification on 23 March 1950. WMO became the agency of the United Nations in 1951 for meteorology, operational hydrology. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization, which was founded in 1873, the WMO hierarchy, The World Meteorological Congress, the supreme body of the Organization, determines policy. Each member state and territory is represented by a Permanent Representative with WMO when Congress meets every four years, Congress elects the President and Vice-Presidents of the Organization and members of the Executive Council, and appoints the Secretary-General. The Executive Council implements Congress decisions, the Executive Council normally hold a session at least once a year. Six Regional Associations are responsible for the coordination of meteorological, hydrological and they meet once every four years, and elect a president and vice-president. The president of regional association is an ex officio member of the Executive Council. Eight Technical Commissions are responsible for studying meteorological and hydrological operational systems, applications and they establish methodology and procedures and make recommendations to Executive Council and the World Meteorological Congress. The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, who is appointed by the World Meteorological Congress for a term with a maximum tenure of 8 years. The Secretary-General appoints all staff, including the Deputy Secretary-General and the Assistant Secretary-General, the Secretariat currently has around 300 staff. Weather, climate and the water cycle shape almost every aspect of our lives and these powerful natural forces do not recognize national borders, thus global and regional cooperation is essential. Even the accuracy of a weather forecast relies on observations from far beyond national borders. These warnings help to save lives and to protect property. They contribute to economic planning and decision-making, and help minimize the harm that weather, climate, the first step in producing weather forecasts is to gather non-stop observations of the environment from around the world. WMO develops the standards for designing these and other observing instruments and for ensuring that the collected data are quality controlled
27.
National Weather Service
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It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970, the NWS performs its primary task through a collection of national and regional centers, and 122 local weather forecast offices. As the NWS is a government agency, most of its products are in the public domain, the agency was placed under the Secretary of War as Congress felt military discipline would probably secure the greatest promptness, regularity, and accuracy in the required observations. Within the Department of War, it was assigned to the U. S. Army Signal Service under Brigadier General Albert J. Myer, General Myer gave the National Weather Service its first name, The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce. The agency first became an enterprise in 1890, when it became part of the Department of Agriculture. The first Weather Bureau radiosonde was launched in Massachusetts in 1937, the Bureau would later be moved to the Department of Commerce in 1940. On July 12,1950, bureau chief Francis W, the Weather Bureau became part of the Environmental Science Services Administration when that agency was formed in August 1966. The Environmental Science Services Administration was renamed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on October 1,1970, at this time, the Weather Bureau became the National Weather Service. NEXRAD, a system of Doppler radars deployed to improve the detection and warning time of local storms, replaced the WSR-57. Bob Glahn has written a history of the first hundred years of the National Weather Service. The NWS, through a variety of sub-organizations, issues different forecast products to users, although, throughout history, text forecasts have been the means of product dissemination, the NWS has been using more forecast products of a digital, gridded, image or other modern format. Each of the 122 Weather Forecast Offices send their graphical forecasts to a server to be compiled in the National Digital Forecast Database. The NDFD is a collection of weather observations used by organizations and the public, including precipitation amount, temperature. Specific points in the database can be accessed using an XML SOAP service. The National Weather Service issues many products relating to wildfires daily, for example, a Fire Weather Forecast, which have a forecast period covering up to seven days, is issued by local Weather Forecast Offices daily, with updates as needed. The forecasts contain weather information relevant to fire control and smoke management for the next 12 to 48 hours, such as direction and speed. The appropriate crews use this information to plan for staffing and equipment levels, the ability to conduct scheduled controlled burns, and assess the daily fire danger. Once per day, NWS meteorologists issue a coded fire weather forecast for specific United States Forest Service observation sites that are input into the National Fire Danger Rating System
28.
Joint Typhoon Warning Center
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The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Their warnings are intended for the protection of military ships. At this time the centre was one of three Navy and two Air Force units responsible for tropical cyclone reconnaissance and warnings in the Pacific, over the next few years the coordination of tropical warnings between the centres was at times difficult or impossible due to various communication problems. A committee was set up to study the issue which issued a report during January 1959. The CINCPAC subsequently petitioned the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who gave permission for the centre to be set up effective May 1,1959, the JTWC initially consisted of ten people with two officers and three enlisted personnel provided by each service. It was required to provide warnings on all tropical cyclones, between the Malay Peninsular and the International Dateline for US government agencies and they also had to determine reconnaissance requirements, prepare annual typhoon summaries, and conduct research into tropical cyclone forecasting and detection. In November 1962, Typhoon Karen destroyed the housing the Fleet Weather Center/Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It relocated in a more typhoon-proof building in 1965, between 1971 and 1976, CINCPAC gradually expanded out the JTWCs area of responsibility, to include the area between the International Dateline and the African coasts. The JTWC subsequently started issuing warnings for the Southern Hemisphere between the African coast and the International Dateline during October 1980 and it was relocated to Pearl Harbor on January 1,1999 due to the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission round. A more modernized method for forecasting tropical cyclones had become apparent by the 1980s, prior to the development of ATCF, the tools used by the Department of Defense to forecast tropical cyclone track were acetate, grease pencils, and disparate computer programs. The ATCF software was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory for the JTWC beginning in 1986 and it was adapted for use at the National Hurricane Center in 1990. S. Standard of measuring sustained winds for 1-min instead of the 10-min span recommended by the WMO, JTWC monitors, analyzes, and forecasts tropical cyclone formation, development, and movement year round. Its area of responsibility covers 89% of the tropical cyclone activity. The Center is manned by about 37 U. S. Air Force and Navy personnel. The JTWC uses several satellite systems and sensors, radar, surface and upper level synoptic data as well as models to complete its mission. pgtw, wtps3#. pgtw, wtpn3#. pgtw
29.
Louisiana
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Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the state in the U. S. with political subdivisions termed parishes. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana is bordered by Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, Texas to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Much of the lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh. These contain a rich southern biota, typical examples include birds such as ibis, there are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a process in the landscape. These support a large number of plant species, including many species of orchids. Louisiana has more Native American tribes than any other state, including four that are federally recognized, ten that are state recognized. Before the American purchase of the territory in 1803, the current Louisiana State had been both a French colony and for a period, a Spanish one. In addition, colonists imported numerous African people as slaves in the 18th century, many came from peoples of the same region of West Africa, thus concentrating their culture. Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715, when René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane. The suffix -ana is a Latin suffix that can refer to information relating to an individual, subject. Thus, roughly, Louis + ana carries the idea of related to Louis, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist 250 million years ago when there was but one supercontinent, Pangea. As Pangea split apart, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico opened, Louisiana slowly developed, over millions of years, from water into land, and from north to south. The oldest rocks are exposed in the north, in such as the Kisatchie National Forest. The oldest rocks date back to the early Tertiary Era, some 60 million years ago, the history of the formation of these rocks can be found in D. Spearings Roadside Geology of Louisiana. The sediments were carried north to south by the Mississippi River
30.
Mobile home
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A mobile home is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site. Behind the cosmetic work fitted at installation to hide the base, there are strong trailer frames, axles, wheels, in the United States, this form of housing goes back to the early years of cars and motorized highway travel. It was derived from the trailer, a small unit with wheels attached permanently. The original rationale for this type of housing was its mobility, units were initially marketed primarily to people whose lifestyle required mobility. Previously, units had been eight feet or less in width, but in 1956, the homes were given a rectangular shape, made from pre-painted aluminum panels, rather than the streamlined shape of travel trailers, which were usually painted after assembly. All of this increase the difference between these homes and home/travel trailers. During the late 1960s and early 70s, the homes were even longer and wider. Nowadays, when a home is moved to a location, it is usually kept there permanently. In some states, mobile homes have been taxed as personal property if the wheels remain attached, removal of the tongue and axles may also be a requirement for real estate classification. Mobile homes permanently installed on owned land are rarely mortgageable, whereas FHA code manufactured homes are mortgageable through VA, FHA, the units were often marketed as an alternative to apartment rental. However, the tendency of the units of this era to depreciate rapidly in resale value made using them as collateral for loans much riskier than traditional home loans. Terms were usually limited to less than the thirty-year term typical of the general home-loan market, in this way, mobile home loans resembled motor vehicle loans more than traditional home mortgage loans. Mobile homes come in two sizes, single-wides and double-wides. Single-wides are 18 feet or less in width and 90 feet or less in length, double-wides are 20 feet or more wide and are 90 feet in length or less and are towed to their site in two separate units, which are then joined together. Triple-wides and even homes with four, five, or more units are also built, while site-built homes are rarely moved, single-wide owners often trade or sell their home to a dealer in the form of the reduction of the purchase of a new home. These used homes are either re-sold to new owners or to park owners who use them as rental units. Single-wides are more likely to be traded than double-wides because removing them from the site is easier, in fact, only about 5% of all double-wides will ever be moved. While an EF1 tornado might cause damage to a site-built home, it could do significant damage to a factory-built home
31.
Pier
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A pier is a raised structure in a body of water, typically supported by well-spaced piles or pillars. Bridges, buildings, and walkways may all be supported by piers, Piers can range in size and complexity from a simple lightweight wooden structure to major structures extended over 1600 metres. In American English, pier may be synonymous with dock, thus in North America and Australia, where many ports were, until recently, built on the multiple pier model, the term tends to imply a current or former cargo-handling facility. In Europe in contrast, where more often use basins and river-side quays than piers. However, the earliest piers pre-date the Victorian age, Piers can be categorized into different groupings according to the principal purpose. However, there is overlap between these categories. Many piers are floating piers, to ensure that the piers raise and this prevents a situation where lines become overly taut or loose by rising or lowering tides. An overly taut or loose tie-line can damage boats by pulling out of the water or allowing them so much leeway that they bang forcefully against the sides of the pier. Working piers were built for the handling of passengers and cargo onto, working piers themselves fall into two different groups. Longer individual piers are found at ports with large tidal ranges. Such piers provided an alternative to impounded docks where cargo volumes were low, or where specialist bulk cargo was handled. The other form of working pier, often called the pier, was built at ports with smaller tidal ranges. Here the principal advantage was to give a greater available quay length for ships to berth against compared to a linear littoral quayside, typically each pier would carry a single transit shed the length of the pier, with ships berthing bow or stern in to the shore. Some major ports consisted of numbers of such piers lining the foreshore, classic examples being the Hudson River frontage of New York. One example, is in use in Progreso, Yucatán, where a pier extends more than 4 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the longest pier in the world. The Progreso Pier supplies much of the peninsula with transportation for the fishing, many other working piers have been demolished, or remain derelict, but some have been recycled as pleasure piers. The best known example of this is Pier 39 in San Francisco, at Southport and the Tweed River on the Gold Coast in Australia, there are piers that support equipment for a sand bypassing system that maintains the health of sandy beaches and navigation channels. Pleasure piers were first built in Britain during the early 19th century, the earliest structures were Ryde Pier, built in 1813/4, Trinity Chain Pier near Leith, built in 1821, and Brighton Chain Pier, built in 1823
32.
Hurricane Flossy (1956)
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It was the first hurricane to affect oil refining in the Gulf of Mexico. The tropical cyclone led to flooding in New Orleans, and broke a drought across the eastern United States, the death toll was 15, and total damages reached $24.8 million. A tropical disturbance moved northward, crossing Guatemala from the eastern Pacific ocean into the northwest Caribbean Sea between September 20 and September 21 and it turned sharply east-northeast across the Mouth of the Mississippi river on September 24 as a minor hurricane. The storm continued east-northeast and made landfall in Florida east of Pensacola, by the morning of September 22, hurricane watches were posted for the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts. The approach of the led to the evacuation of 15 aircraft from Florida to Ardmore Air Force Base. This was the first hurricane to cause significant disruption to oil refining in the Gulf of Mexico, several hundred active wells went out of service, and drilling came to a halt for a few days during and after the cyclones passage. One of Humble companys tenders saw three-quarters of its mooring chains compromised, the cost to downtime in production was greater than the damage Flossy created to the oil rigs. There was no loss of life, due to the impact of Flossy on oil refining in the Gulf of Mexico, the American Petroleum Institute formed a committee called Fundamental Research on Weather Forecasting. Their goal was to use models and historic data to better predict hurricane formation. Studies went on into 1962, but no reliable forecast mechanism was found, in Louisiana, wind-blown sand from the beach spread over area highways due to the hurricane. A total of 16.70 inches of rainfall fell at Golden Meadow, burrwood, Louisianas pressure fell to 29.03 inHg. Hundreds lost their homes in the storm, the storm surge was significant enough to submerge Grand Isle, Louisiana. At Ostrica Lock, the tide reached 13 feet. Extensive coastal erosion was caused by the cyclone across the Mississippi Delta, in New Orleans, Louisiana, about 2.5 square miles were flooded as portions of the seawall were overtopped. Cattle drowned across the region, and crops such as citrus, sugar cane, winds as high as 66 mph struck coastal Mississippi. A total of 16.30 inches of rain fell at Gulf Shores, in Montgomery, Alabama, the tent used to house the Eastern Hills Baptist Church was destroyed. Across northern Florida, southern Alabama, and Georgia, Flossy was considered drought-breaking, in southwest Georgia, high winds from Flossy damaged the corn and cotton crops. The lowest pressure reported was 28.93 inches/979.8 hPa or mb at Pensacola Naval Air Station, the storm tide at Laguna Beach, Florida, reached 7.4 feet above mean sea level
33.
Hurricane Gladys (1968)
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Hurricane Gladys was the first Atlantic hurricane to be observed each by the Hurricane Hunters, radar imagery, and photographs from space. The seventh named storm and fifth hurricane of the 1968 season, the storm moved north-northwestward, becoming a hurricane before striking Cuba on October 16. Gladys later reached peak winds of 85 mph just before making landfall near Homosassa on the western coast of Florida on October 19, the hurricane crossed the state and continued northeastward, passing just east of Cape Hatteras on October 20. The next day, Gladys became extratropical and was absorbed by a cold front over Nova Scotia, in Cuba, the threat of the hurricane prompted widespread evacuations. Gladys caused flash flooding and heavily damaged the tobacco crop, damage in the country was estimated at $12 million, and there were six deaths. While passing west of the Florida Keys, the hurricane produced strong winds that briefly cut communications to the Dry Tortugas, near where Gladys made landfall, winds gusted to 100 mph and tides reached 6.5 ft above normal. There was heavy beach erosion and flooding along the coast, while the winds knocked down trees, across the state, damage was estimated at $6.7 million, and three people were indirectly killed. Heavy rainfall in South Carolina caused minor river flooding, when paralleling just off the coast of North Carolina, Gladys was responsible for breaking the states worst drought since 1932, and proved more beneficial than the minor storm damage there. Later, Gladys killed two people in Atlantic Canada and caused damage in Prince Edward Island. The origins of Hurricane Gladys were from a tropical wave – a trough embedded in the trade winds – that moved across the Lesser Antilles on October 6, for the next few days, the wave moved across the Caribbean Sea without any development. As the wave interacted with the convergence zone, a large area of convection persisted across the region. One became a depression near Swan Island offshore Honduras on October 11. The latter system, which would eventually become Gladys, moved slowly north-northwestward, an anticyclone in the region caused wind shear to decrease, allowing for gradual development. On October 15, a Hurricane Hunters flight observed winds of 52 mph, on that basis, after becoming a tropical storm, Gladys intensified into a hurricane near the Isle of Youth on October 16. Shortly thereafter it crossed the narrow but mountainous region of western Cuba, by the time the hurricane reached the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, a deep trough was moving eastward through the United States toward a weak anticyclone off the east coast. Gladys turned more to the north, passing just west of the Dry Tortugas, before resuming its north-northwest trajectory, possibly due to a mid-level low near Alabama. Around that time, the eye was reorganizing offshore southwestern Florida, early on October 19, Gladys made landfall near Homosassa after turning to the northeast, with peak winds estimated at 85 mph. It accelerated across the state due to the trough, emerging into the Atlantic near St. Augustine
34.
Hurricane Agnes
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Hurricane Agnes was, at the time, the costliest hurricane to hit the United States in recorded history. Initially forming as a depression, the storm headed slowly eastward. Once in the Caribbean, the depression began to strengthen, and by the following day, thereafter, Agnes slowly curved northward and passed just west of Cuba on June 17. Early on June 18, the storm intensified enough to be upgraded to Hurricane Agnes, heading northward, the hurricane eventually made landfall near Panama City, Florida late on June 19. After moving inland, Agnes rapidly weakened and was only a depression when it entered Georgia. The weakening trend halted as the storm crossed over Georgia and into South Carolina, while over eastern North Carolina, Agnes re-strengthened into a tropical storm on June 21, as a result of baroclinic activity. Early the following day, the storm emerged into the Atlantic Ocean before re-curving northwestward, Agnes quickly became an extratropical cyclone on June 23, and tracked to the northwest of Great Britain before becoming absorbed by another cyclone on July 6. Though it moved slowly across the Yucatán Peninsula, damage in Mexico is unknown, although the storm bypassed the tip of Cuba, heavy rainfall occurred, killing seven people. In Florida, Agnes caused a significant tornado outbreak, with at least 26 confirmed twisters, the tornadoes and two initially unconfirmed tornadoes in Florida alone resulted in over $4.5 million in damage and six fatalities. At least 2,082 structures in Florida suffered either major damage or were destroyed, about 1,355 other dwellings experienced minor losses. Though Agnes made landfall as a hurricane, no hurricane-force winds were reported, along the coast abnormally high tides resulted in extensive damage, especially between Apalachicola and Cedar Key. Light to moderate rainfall was reported in Florida, though no significant flooding occurred, in Georgia, damage was limited to two tornadoes, which caused approximately $275,000 in losses. Minimal effects were recorded in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, South Carolina. The most significant effects, by far, occurred in Pennsylvania, the hurricane severely flooded the Susquehanna River and the Lackawanna River causing major damage to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined, about 43,594 structures were destroyed or significantly damaged. In Canada, a home was toppled, killing two people. Overall, Agnes caused 128 fatalities and nearly $3 billion in damage, though more recently, due to the significant effects, the name Agnes was retired in the spring of 1973. In early-mid June 1972, atmospheric conditions favored tropical cyclogenesis in the Caribbean Sea, banded convection developed in the northwestern Caribbean Sea by June 11, though the system did not significantly organize
35.
Hurricane Juan (1985)
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Hurricane Juan was a large and erratic tropical cyclone that looped twice near the Louisiana coast, causing widespread flooding. It was the named storm of the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season. Juan moved northward after its formation, and was subtropical in nature with its large size, on October 27, the storm became a hurricane, reaching maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Due to the influence of an low, Juan looped just off southern Louisiana before making landfall near Morgan City on October 29. Weakening to tropical storm status over land, Juan turned back to the southeast over open waters, after turning to the northeast, the storm made its final landfall just west of Pensacola, Florida, late on October 31. Juan continued quickly to the north and was absorbed by a cold front. Juan was the last of three hurricanes to move over Louisiana during the season, after Danny in August and Elena in early September and it formed rapidly in the northern Gulf of Mexico, allowing little time for thorough preparations or the evacuation of offshore oil rigs. As a result, nine died in maritime accidents off Louisiana. Onshore, the hurricane dropped torrential rain totaling 17.78 in in Galliano, the combination of the rainfall and a high storm surge flooded 50,000 houses and many communities in southern Louisiana, causing extensive agriculture losses. Damage in Louisiana alone approached $1 billion, elsewhere, flooding in Texas forced the closure of roadways, while heavy rains damaged crops and houses in southern Mississippi. The outer rainbands of Juan spawned 15 tornadoes along the Florida Panhandle, overall, Juan directly inflicted about $1.5 billion in damage, making it among the costliest United States hurricanes, and there were 12 deaths. This excludes the effects from the subsequent flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, the interaction between a tropical wave and a upper-level low moving southeastward from Texas spawned a broad trough over the central Gulf of Mexico on October 24. That day, there was a increase in convection, or thunderstorms. At the same time, the gradient between the trough and a high pressure area over the southeastern United States produced winds of near gale force across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Early on October 26, a depression developed about 380 mi south-southwest of New Orleans. Within 12 hours, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Juan, based on satellite imagery, initially, the structure was akin to that of a subtropical cyclone, with light winds near the center. Juan moved erratically at first, eventually tracking more steadily to the north-northeast on October 27, after turning to the northwest late on October 27, Juan intensified into a hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, based on reports from the Hurricane Hunters. Under the effects of a larger upper-level low, Juan slowed on October 28 while approaching the Louisiana coastline, at 1200 UTC that day, the hurricane attained peak winds of 85 mph
36.
Hurricane Ismael
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Hurricane Ismael was a weak, but deadly Pacific hurricane that killed over one hundred people in northern Mexico in September of the 1995 Pacific hurricane season. It developed from a persistent area of convection on September 12. Ismael attained hurricane status on September 14 while located 210 miles off the coast of Mexico and it continued to the north, and after passing a short distance east of Baja California it made landfall on Topolobampo in the state of Sinaloa with winds of 80 mph. Ismael rapidly weakened over land, and dissipated on September 16 over northwestern Mexico, the remnants entered the United States and extended eastward into the Mid-Atlantic States. Offshore, Ismael produced waves of up to 30 feet in height, hundreds of fishermen were unprepared for the hurricane, which was expected to move more slowly, and as a result 52 ships were wrecked, killing 57 fishermen. On land, Ismael caused 59 deaths in mainland Mexico and resulted in $26 million in damage, the hurricane destroyed thousands of houses, leaving 30,000 people homeless. Moisture from the storm extended into the United States, causing heavy rainfall, a poorly organized area of convection persisted about 170 miles off the southern coast of Guatemala on September 9. It moved west-northwestward, and after three days without further organization a circulation developed off the southwest coast of Mexico, the system quickly organized, resulting in Dvorak classifications beginning later that day. Convective banding became organized, and late on September 12 it developed into Tropical Depression Ten while located about 350 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo. The depression moved to the northwest, and following an increase in deep convection it intensified into Tropical Storm Ismael early on September 13, upon attaining tropical storm status, Ismael was located in an area of warm water temperatures with well-established upper-level outflow. Initially the storm moved to the northwest, though in response to the interaction with a low over Baja California Ismael gradually turned to the north. Such a change in motion was not operationally predicted by forecasters, Ismael steadily strengthened as it moved northward, though it failed to organize significantly, early on September 14 the center remained poorly defined despite winds of 70 mph. However, the outflow remained well-organized as it remained over warm waters, Ismael became better organized, and later on September 14 it intensified into a hurricane while located 210 miles west-southwest of Puerto Vallarta. Ismael quickly developed a defined eye, and six hours after becoming a hurricane it reached a peak intensity of 80 mph. Steered between a mid- to upper-level trough to its west and a ridge to its east, Ismael accelerated as it moved just west of due north, late on September 14 Ismael passed 65 miles east of Cabo San Lucas. The hurricane maintained its strength as it continued northward, and made landfall on Topolobampo in the state of Sinaloa on September 15. Ismael rapidly weakened as the crossed the high terrain of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The remnants of Ismael continued northward, and moisture from the storm extended over the southwestern United States eastward through the Mid-Atlantic States, initially, Hurricane Ismael was predicted to remain over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean
37.
Hurricane Claudette (2003)
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Hurricane Claudette was the third tropical storm and first hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. A fairly long-lived July Atlantic hurricane, Claudette began as a wave in the eastern Caribbean. It moved quickly westward, brushing past the Yucatán Peninsula before moving northwestward through the Gulf of Mexico, Claudette remained a tropical storm until just before making landfall in Port OConnor, Texas, when it quickly strengthened to a strong Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Forecasting of its path and intensity was uncertain throughout its lifetime, resulting in widespread, Claudette was the first hurricane to make landfall in July in the United States since Hurricane Danny in the 1997 season. The hurricane caused one death and moderate damage in Texas, mostly from strong winds, because of the damage, President George W. Bush declared portions of South Texas a Federal Disaster Area, allowing the affected citizens to apply for aid. Claudette also caused significant rainfall and minor damage in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo as a tropical storm, a tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on July 1. It steadily organized as it moved westward, and resembled a tropical depression by July 7, however, surface reports and reconnaissance aircraft indicated the system did not have tropical characteristics, and remained simply a low-pressure system. The wave produced tropical storm-force winds as it moved through the Lesser Antilles on July 8, because it had tropical storm-force winds, the system was upgraded immediately to Tropical Storm Claudette after it developed a low-level circulation later on July 8. By early on July 9, while south of Puerto Rico, Claudette quickly strengthened over the waters of the Caribbean. Possibly due to its fast forward motion, the storm became disorganized and weakened, conditions briefly became more favorable over the western Caribbean, and Claudette reached hurricane status for six hours on July 10. Soon after, the storm encountered unfavorable winds and weakened back into a tropical storm. In response to a break in the subtropical ridge—a high-pressure ridge that often prevents tropical systems from moving northward—it turned to the west-northwest, Claudette made its first landfall at Puerto Morelos on the Yucatán Peninsula on July 11 as a tropical storm with 60 mph winds. Claudette wobbled to the northwest over the Gulf of Mexico and gradually restrengthened, upper-level winds steadily decreased, and Claudette again became a hurricane late on July 14. Residents along and inland of the central Texas coast were caught off guard both by its intensity and its time of arrival, the hurricane was projected to make landfall in the evening hours of July 15, but instead came ashore before noon. As slow as Claudette was to strengthen, it was slow to dissipate over land. Inland hurricane warnings were issued for several counties away from the coastline, the storm finally lost its low-level circulation early on July 17 over Chihuahua, although its rainfall and upper-level circulation continued into the Pacific Ocean. Mexican officials issued a storm warning 37 hours prior to the storms landfall between Chetumal and Cabo Catoche, Quintana Roo. The warning was upgraded to a warning about a day before landfall
38.
Hurricane Gaston (2004)
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Hurricane Gaston was a minimal hurricane that made landfall in South Carolina on August 29,2004. It then crossed North Carolina and Virginia before exiting to the northeast, the storm killed nine people – eight of them directly – and caused $130 million in damage. Gaston produced torrential downpours that inundated Richmond, Virginia, although originally designated a tropical storm, Gaston was reclassified as a hurricane when post-storm analysis revealed it had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. On August 22,2004, a cold front—the same front which eventually spawned Tropical Storm Hermine—moved off the coast of the Carolinas, on August 25, Surface observations indicated that a broad low pressure area developed along the deteriorating frontal boundary. Convection remained sporadic and disorganized, until thunderstorm activity began to increase, at 1200 UTC on August 27, the low organized, and was designated as Tropical Depression Seven while located about 130 mi east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. The cyclone was situated over warm waters and contained good anticyclonic flow. Later that same day, it gradually drifted southwest and convective banding continued to increase, at 1100 UTC on August 28, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Gaston. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters aircraft completed a flight into Gaston, at the time, it was believed that Gaston had reached peak intensity of 70 mph, placing it very close to hurricane status. However, during analysis, it was discovered that Gaston had briefly attained Category 1 Hurricane intensity at 1800 UTC on August 28. At 1400 UTC on August 29, Gaston made landfall at Awendaw, South Carolina, the storm quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it continued northward through South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and it began to gradually move north-northeastward. At 0000 UTC on August 30, the weakened to a tropical depression over northeastern South Carolina. As it accelerated to the northeast, it emerged in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Initially, the system maintained a radar signature, although satellite imagery soon indicated that convection became limited in intensity. Also, a front-like band appeared to be forming southeast of the center, at 0600 UTC on August 31, Gaston crossed the Delmarva Peninsula for the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The system began to lose tropical characteristics as it became associated with the frontal system, the extratropical remnants of Gaston were absorbed by a larger extratropical system on September 3, about 750 mi south-southeast of Reykjavík, Iceland. On August 27, shortly after the formation of Gaston, tropical storm watches were issued for locations from Surf City, North Carolina to Fernandina Beach. At 0300 UTC the tropical storm watch issued for north of Little River Inlet to Surf City, the tropical storm watch issued for coastal Georgia from south of the Savannah River to Fernadina Beach, Florida remained in effect. At 1500 UTC, all watches and warnings were discontinued and by 0000 UTC on August 30
39.
Hurricane Stan
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Hurricane Stan was a rather weak but yet a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that affected areas of Central America in early October 2005. The eighteenth named storm and eleventh hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, the depression slowly intensified, and reached tropical storm intensity the following day, before subsequently making its first landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula. Traversing the peninsula, the storm weakened, but was able to re-intensify once it entered the Bay of Campeche. The hurricane maintained intensity until landfall near Punta Roca Partida. Once over the terrain of Mexico, however, Stan quickly weakened. Due to Stans position within an area of convective activity and thunderstorms. Flash floods generated by the hurricane caused severe losses, particularly to coffee crops. Overall, Stan caused at least 1,668 deaths across six countries, most of these fatalities occurred in Guatemala, and were mostly caused by mudslides triggered by torrential rainfall. The floods in Guatemala destroyed entire towns and disrupted exportation of petroleum, in Mexico, the heavy rains triggered additional mudslides and caused rivers to overflow, flooding nearby villages. Despite being relatively far from Stan as opposed to other countries, the Santa Ana Volcano erupted while Stan was producing heavy rains in the country, which contributed to the damage already wrought by mudslides. Transportation in the country was disrupted, across the region, Stan caused $3.9 billion in damages, primarily due to torrential rainfall. Hurricane Stan originated from a wave that was first identified by the National Hurricane Center off the west coast of Africa on September 17,2005. Traveling westward, the wave remained weak, barely being notable, by September 22 convection began to increase, however, wind shear in the region prevented this development from continuing. The system entered the Caribbean Sea several days later, a region with more conditions for cyclonic development. Intermittent convection formed around the wave as it moved west-northwestward before the development maintained itself, located to the south of a low to mid-level tropospheric ridge, the depression tracked towards the west-northwest. Within a few hours of being warned upon, the system intensified into Tropical Storm Stan. This followed the development of a strong banding feature to the southeast of the storms center. Around 1000 UTC on October 2, Stan made its first landfall near Punta Hualaxtoc, Mexico, roughly 35 mi south of Tulum, over the following 18 hours, the weak storm traversed the southern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula
40.
Hurricane Humberto (2007)
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Hurricane Humberto was a minimal hurricane that formed and intensified faster than any other North Atlantic tropical cyclone on record before landfall. Developing on September 12,2007, in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and it steadily weakened after moving ashore, and on September 14 it began dissipating over northwestern Georgia as it interacted with an approaching cold front. Damage was fairly light, estimated at approximately $50 million, precipitation peaked at 14.13 inches, while wind gusts to 85 mph were reported. The heavy rainfall caused flooding, which damaged or destroyed dozens of homes. Trees and power lines were downed, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers, the hurricane caused one fatality in the State of Texas. Additionally, as the storm progressed inland, rainfall was reported throughout the Southeast United States, the origins of Humberto are from the remnants of a frontal trough—the same that spawned Tropical Storm Gabrielle—that moved offshore south Florida on September 5. The combination of a surface trough and an upper-level low pressure system produced disorganized showers. Tracking slowly west-northwestward, unfavorable wind shear initially inhibited tropical cyclone development, by late on September 11, environmental conditions became more favorable, and the following morning convection increased over the disturbance. Tracking around the periphery of a mid-level ridge, the system turned on a slow northwest drift. Upon becoming a cyclone, the depression was forecast to strengthen slowly to reach peak winds of 45 mph. Within three hours of forming, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Humberto, a small cyclone, the storm continued to organize quickly as it turned north-northeastward, while radar imagery suggested the formation of an eye by early on September 13. Based on reports from Hurricane Hunters, Humberto was upgraded to a hurricane at 0515 UTC on September 13, the hurricane made landfall a few miles to the east of High Island at around 0700 UTC. A well-defined eye was maintained with strong convection around it, however, post-storm analysis later determined that the winds were a bit stronger—about 90 mph. The path of the eye continued northeastward and passed over Port Arthur, Nederland, Port Neches, Groves and this was the second time within two years that these cities experienced a direct hit from a hurricane. By eight hours after landfall, Humberto weakened to a storm as it crossed into southwestern Louisiana. Increased upper-level wind shear caused the storm to weaken rapidly over land, upon issuing its last advisory, the National Hurricane Center remarked on the potential for the remnants of the storm to turn southward into the Gulf of Mexico. Upon reaching hurricane status, the National Hurricane Center issued a warning from High Island, Texas, to Cameron. An inland tropical storm warning was declared for several parishes in southwestern Louisiana, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center posted a tornado watch for southwestern coastal parishes
41.
Hurricane Isaac (2012)
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Hurricane Isaac was a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that came ashore the U. S. state of Louisiana during August 2012. The ninth named storm and fourth hurricane of the hurricane season. Though the system intensified into a storm shortly thereafter, high wind shear initially prevented much change in strength. An intensification of the ridge of pressure to the cyclones north caused it to turn westward over the Florida Keys by August 26. The system gradually weakened inland, but still produced a widespread tornado outbreak across the middle of the country before dissipating into an open low early on September 1. Prior to becoming a hurricane, Isaac produced flooding rainfall across much of the Lesser and Greater Antilles, particularly hard hit was the island of Haiti, where 24 people lost their lives. Overflowing rivers led to significant structural damage and many roadways were washed away, while gusty winds and rainfall were reported in Cuba, damage was limited to a few buildings. In Florida, Isaac produced several inches of rainfall, leading to flooding, strong winds knocked out power to thousands, and waves along the coast caused minor beach erosion. The most severe effects of the storm, however, occurred in Louisiana following the upgrade to hurricane intensity. Tropical storm-force sustained winds, with well over hurricane strength, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands. Many dams along the coastline were briefly over-topped, though they did not break completely and were later pumped to prevent failure. Gusts near hurricane intensity and heavy rainfall led to widespread power outages in the neighboring state of Mississippi. As an extratropical cyclone, Isaac produced torrential rains across Arkansas, flooding streets and homes. Strong winds contributed to downed lines and trees, overall, Isaac caused $2.39 billion in damage and led to 41 fatalities. A tropical wave crossed the west coast of Africa between August 15 and August 16, later that day and early on August 17, the system began developing more convection, while located just west of Sierra Leone. As a result, the National Hurricane Center began monitoring the system in the Tropical Weather Outlooks, thereafter, further organization briefly halted, though by early on August 18, associated convection became more concentrated. On the following day, the reached a high probability of tropical cyclogenesis. Between early on August 19 and early on August 21, minimal structural improvement occurred, conditions were generally favorable for further intensification, with the exception of northeasterly wind shear
Nate shortly before its Louisiana landfall in October 2017.
Maria near peak intensity in September 2017.
