Hurricanes will be the final topic that we cover this
semester.
On average, hurricanes kill 20 people
and cause about $5 billion of damage in the US every year.
Year
|
Deaths
|
Total
Damage
(billion $ ))
|
2000
|
0
|
< 1
|
2001
|
24
|
6.5 B
|
2002
|
51
|
1.7 B
|
2003
|
14
|
2.3 B
|
2004
|
34
|
22.9 B
|
2005
|
1016
|
107.5 B
|
2006
|
0
|
< 1
|
2007
|
1
|
< 1
|
2008
|
11
|
7.9 B
|
2009
|
2
|
< 1
|
2010
|
0
|
< 1
|
2005 was the year
hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans (the costliest natural disaster in US
history).
Three of the ten strongest
hurricanes ever observed in the N. Atlantic occurred in 2005 (Wilma was
the strongest and the new record holder, Rita was 4th and Katrina 6th
strongest).
The
deadliest hurricane in US history is the
1900 Galveston hurricane which caused 6000 - 12,000 deaths.
Historic rainfall amounts (75 inches perhaps in some
locations) and flooding associated with Hurricane Mitch killed over
19,000 people in Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in 1998.
Satellite photographs and sketches of the two types of big storm
systems on earth
Sketch of an easterly wave, a "wiggle" in the wind blow pattern.
pretty good analogy: a multi-lane highway
Simplified version of the
Saffir Simpson scale used to rate hurricane intensity
See p. 146a in the ClassNotes
