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*This page may take to long to load due to the giant report on hurricanes below. For your convenience, I have split the report into three pages (it was three pages long) so you can click on page 1 on the sidebar. When you finish that page, there will be a link to page 2 and so on. This is the full report, but the links below will allow you to go page by page.

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*The doesn't look like the report is long because I have made it size 8 Verdana. On size 12 Times New Roman, it printed out on three full pages.

Report Title: 'Wild Hurricanes!'
Submitted to: Mrs. Halfyard
Submitted by: Ayoub Zubairi
Date Due: February 17th, 2006

Pages: 3
Words: 916
Characters (no spaces): 4,461
Characters (with spaces): 5,363
Paragraphs: 17
Lines: 69

Wild Hurricanes!
By Ayoub Zubairi

Defining a Hurricane
'Hurricane' is a name for a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricanes have several characteristics. Hurricanes are tropical, meaning that they occur in tropical areas near the Equator. Hurricanes are cyclonic which means that the wind swirls around the central eye. The Eye of a hurricane is always a low-pressure area. The lowest pressures ever recorded occurred in hurricanes. In a hurricane the swirling winds around the center of the storms have a speed of at least 74 mph.

How a Hurricane Forms
Hurricanes form in warm regions especially where there is warm water, moist air and equatorial winds. Atlantic hurricanes mostly begin as thunderstorms on the coast of Africa and then move over warm, tropical ocean waters. There are three stages for hurricanes: First, tropical depression in which there are swirling clouds and rain with wind at speeds less than 38 mph. Next, is the tropical storm stage in which there are wind speeds of 39 to 73 mph. Last, is the hurricane stage in which wind speeds are greater than 74 mph.

Hurricane formation can take from hours to days. Three events are necessary for event formation. There must be a continuing cycle of evaporation and condensation of warm and humid ocean air. There must be patterns of wind with strong uniform speeds. Finally, there must be a difference in pressure for air pressure between the surface and high altitude.

For a hurricane to form warm and moist air from the ocean's surface begins to rise up. As water vapor condenses, storm clouds and rain drops form. The condensation releases heat, and this heat is called 'latent heat of condensation'. The latent heat warms the cool air above it, causing it to rise. Then the rising air gets replaced by warm humid air from the ocean. The movement of heat from the surface allows wind to circulate around the center. The circulation looks like water gong down a drain.

One more event for hurricanes to form is 'converging winds'. These are just winds moving in different directions that bump into each other. Converging winds bump into each other at the surface and push warm and moist air up. The rising air adds to the circulation occurring from the evaporation and condensation cycle.

High pressure in the higher atmosphere gets rid of heat from the rising air, pushing the air cycle, and adding to the hurricane's formation.

Parts of a Hurricane
A hurricane has three main parts. They are: The Eye, The Eye Wall, and Rain Bands. The Eye is the low pressure, calm center of circulation (as tested in my project). The Eye Wall is the area around the eye with the fastest and most violent winds. The Rain Bands are a series of thunder storms moving away from the eye, which is a part of the evaporation and condensation cycle.

Size and Location
Hurricanes come in many different sizes. Some are small, and have only a few bands of wind, and just some rain behind them. Others are larger, and the bands of winds and rain spread out over hundreds of thousands of miles. 

There are four different kinds of weather alerts for hurricanes. They are, 'Tropical Storm Watch' (warned when winds are from 39 to 73 mph). The next is 'Tropical Storm Warning' (warned when the storm can reach you're house within 24 hrs). The third is 'Hurricane Watch' (warned when hurricane is possible in 36 hrs). The last is a 'Hurricane Warning' (warned when the hurricane is likely within 24 hrs).

Hurricane Damages
Damage is caused my hurricanes because of a lot of reasons. Hurricanes bring HUGE amounts of rain. A big hurricane can leave inches of rain in just about a day or two. A hurricane causes 'high sustained' winds. This can cause structural damage, like rolling over cars, and blowing down trees and buildings. Often, winds of a hurricane can push a wall of water. This is called a 'storm surge'. A lot of the time, this can cause in-land flooding.

The extent of damage from a hurricane depends on the category of the hurricane, if the storm comes ashore, and whether the right or left side strikes in an area.

The right side of the hurricane is more powerful, because the wind speed and the hurricane speed move together. On the left side, the hurricane's speed takes away from the wind speed.

A hurricane can be given a category of 1 to 5, on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Hurricanes in the categories of 3, 4, and 5 cause the most damage.

Tracking a Hurricane
Hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere rotate counter clockwise, and move through the ocean clockwise. In the Southern Hemisphere, they do the exact opposite. These motions are called the Carioles effect, which is caused by the Earth's rotation. To monitor and track hurricanes, we rely on satellites, as well as data gathered by 'Hurricane Hunters'.

Hurricane Hunters are members of the U.S. Department of Defense. They are the only organization that have been able to fly into tropical storms and hurricanes. They use a C-130 Hercules plane, which is very sturdy.

Satellites use different sensors to gather different types of information. 'Visible' is used for clouds and circulation patterns. 'Radar' is used for rain, wind-speeds, and rain. 'Infrared' is used for temperature differences and cloud heights.

Hurricane Names
To track hurricanes, weather officials name them. The names are chosen by the World Metrological Organization such as Katrina, Rita, etc.

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