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This is probably you’re ultimate guide on anything about hurricanes. On their homepage they show the tracks and predictions on the most recent tropical cyclones on both the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. Everything is depicted with maps and diagrams. They have a Hurricane Awareness section that explains what tropical cyclones are and how they form. A tropical cyclone is a warm-core low pressure system with an organized circulation (which depends on the rotation of the earth). They talk about classification (Saffir-Simpson scale), structure, hazards, and influences, such as El Niño. They even provide a section on safety and preparation for hurricanes. If you’re interested on the history of hurricanes, they have a section on that too. It has cool pictures of the hurricanes’ full tracks. |
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Shows recent storm activity and past storm activity. Provides hurricane facts, the anatomy of a storm and how it is formed. You can even look up storm trivia. Provides nice tracking maps for various areas (for you to use) and even a checklist for storm preparation. You can look up storm statistics and maps of various historical storms. |
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Meteorologists have been able to predict hurricane tracks 3-5 days in advance but cannot forecast how strong it will be, especially rapid intensification. This is being solved with data from the U.S./ Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM). This is extremely important information that could affect lives and property. |
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A new study released has shown that hurricanes are becoming more intense because of rising sea surface temperature– and humans are to blame. A team of 19 climate scientists created computer models to reveal that natural climate fluctuation, called climate noise, cannot account for the upswing in the ocean temperature. It showed that global warming caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases have been the main factor for the fast rise in temperature. With current data on today’s ocean temperature in hurricane-forming regions, they used every climate model created and simulated heating due to natural forces. The results didn’t come close to reality. However, when human forces were added to the model, the results were shockingly close. Read this article– it’s a pretty scary truth that we can’t hide from anymore. The article says: “Even if we had stopped emitting greenhouse gases yesterday, it will still get warmer in the future because it takes time for the carbon to affect.” temperatures |
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Any comments or questions? Please send them to lisataco@mit.edu |
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Definitely recommended read! Or a great book to have around. Divine Wind is written by one of the world’s leading authorities on hurricanes– Kerry Emanuel. Written beautifully, he tells us how hurricanes have affected human history and inspired art and literature such as Shakespeare’s The Tempest. He also clearly explains how they work and attempts to answer why they happen (that’s in one of my favorite chapters, Genesis). In addition to that, he describes some of the most powerful hurricanes in history. The book is filled with wonderful graphics that show and tell all! |
