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

Wild Hurricanes! - Page 3
By Ayoub Zubairi

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 Coriolis 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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