Welcome back to the Weather Wednesdays blog, except it's not Wednesday. It's actually Thursday which of course does not go with this blog title, but in the grand scheme of things, what's most important is that you & I both learn about meteorology together. :) With that being said, it's Thursday June 21, 2018, so let's get into understanding hurricanes even more.
In last week's blog, we learned how hurricanes were formed. To summarize it, remember that a hurricane starts off as a storm or a system of low pressure in the Atlantic. The surrounding air, or higher air pressure, begins to mix into the storm creating warm air which rises. As this warm air mass rises, it begins to cool creating clouds. Wind then decides to come into the party and boom after growing and strengthening, a hurricane is born. Neat right? In the comments below, post if you have ever been through a hurricane.
Today & tomorrow, we're going to cover how hurricanes are named & how they are categorized.
Let's start with how they are categorized. Can anyone guess...? (STOP! Don't read ahead until you've guessed)
Well they are categorized with categories. Who would have thought right? It's only in school during an exam when a question with an answer so simple like this will make you question it even after the exam is over.
This system of classification system was brought to life in 1971 by the brains of two people. Those two individuals were civil engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist as well as the director of the National Hurricane Center at the time, Robert Simpson. Through them, the system used to classify hurricanes is officially called the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. The way the scale works is that it classifies hurricanes into five different categories. Those categories are categories 1,2,3,4 and 5. Again, nothing special...just all simple things. These categories are based of a hurricane's wind speed and damage. Below is a table I've put together so we can better understand each category.
Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale:
In last week's blog, we learned how hurricanes were formed. To summarize it, remember that a hurricane starts off as a storm or a system of low pressure in the Atlantic. The surrounding air, or higher air pressure, begins to mix into the storm creating warm air which rises. As this warm air mass rises, it begins to cool creating clouds. Wind then decides to come into the party and boom after growing and strengthening, a hurricane is born. Neat right? In the comments below, post if you have ever been through a hurricane.
Today & tomorrow, we're going to cover how hurricanes are named & how they are categorized.
Let's start with how they are categorized. Can anyone guess...? (STOP! Don't read ahead until you've guessed)
Well they are categorized with categories. Who would have thought right? It's only in school during an exam when a question with an answer so simple like this will make you question it even after the exam is over.
This system of classification system was brought to life in 1971 by the brains of two people. Those two individuals were civil engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist as well as the director of the National Hurricane Center at the time, Robert Simpson. Through them, the system used to classify hurricanes is officially called the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. The way the scale works is that it classifies hurricanes into five different categories. Those categories are categories 1,2,3,4 and 5. Again, nothing special...just all simple things. These categories are based of a hurricane's wind speed and damage. Below is a table I've put together so we can better understand each category.
Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale:
Category
|
Wind Speed
|
Description
|
Category 1
|
74-95 mph
|
· Roofs could become damaged
· Tree branches may snap
· Trees could be uprooted
· Power outages possible
|
Category 2
|
96-110 mph
|
· Major roof damage is possible
· Tree branches will break, and trees will be
uprooted
· Power outages will occur
|
Category 3
|
111-129 mph
|
·Structure of home will begin to deteriorate
· Fallen trees will begin to block roads
· Power & water will be unavailable until
the storm is over
|
Category 4
|
130-156 mph
|
·Structure of home is pretty much destroyed
· Power & water outages
· Roads will be blocked
·The affected area will have to be rebuilt
& made new again
|
Category 5
|
157 or higher mph
|
· Homes will be destroyed
· Trees will be uprooted
· Roads blocked
· Power & water out
·Destruction & damage rate is very high
|
Essentially, if a category 3 or above hurricane is headed towards your city, you better make sure you are prepared if you are planning to withstand the storm or have already evacuated. Once the storm has hit a category 3 or above, it is considered a major hurricane.
Here is a video with The Weather Channel's meteorologist Mark Elliot. He will give you a visual representation of what might occur to a house during a hurricane at each of those stages:
Aside from these categories though, you might hear the term tropical wave, tropical depression, or tropical storm. These are the pre-stages before a storm becomes a hurricane. A tropical wave has winds 25 mph or below, a tropical depression has winds 26-34 mph, and a tropical storm has winds 35-73 mph.
There you have it though! That is how the hurricane classification system works!
Make sure you comment down below if you have ever experienced any hurricane and what it was like! Also, don't forget to hit that follow button on the side for more up to the date weather information.
I hope you all have a tropical Thursday!
Your Future Meteorologist,
Aric Ilbeig
"We may not be able to change the world, but we can change somebody's world for a moment" -Unknown
Here is a video with The Weather Channel's meteorologist Mark Elliot. He will give you a visual representation of what might occur to a house during a hurricane at each of those stages:
Aside from these categories though, you might hear the term tropical wave, tropical depression, or tropical storm. These are the pre-stages before a storm becomes a hurricane. A tropical wave has winds 25 mph or below, a tropical depression has winds 26-34 mph, and a tropical storm has winds 35-73 mph.
There you have it though! That is how the hurricane classification system works!
Make sure you comment down below if you have ever experienced any hurricane and what it was like! Also, don't forget to hit that follow button on the side for more up to the date weather information.
I hope you all have a tropical Thursday!
Your Future Meteorologist,
Aric Ilbeig
"We may not be able to change the world, but we can change somebody's world for a moment" -Unknown
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