Disasters Essay Research Paper This being my

Disasters Essay, Research Paper

This being my senior project I wanted to look at a topic that I found interesting. Even though I find most topics in the fields interesting, none catch my attention better than natural disasters. I have always found disasters intriguing and have wanted to know more about them. The disaster that I found most interesting were Hurricanes. The thought of those storms with their power gives me the chills. Ever since I was in the middle of Hurricane Bob when I was vacationing with my family off the coast of Virginia and we were asked by the state police to evacuate our house, I wanted to learn more about hurricanes. Since that I have been able to take classes that enabled me to learn more about hurricanes. That is why I have decided to take the focus of my paper towards hurricanes. Furthermore, I am going to look at the economical affects that hurricanes have on the United States. There are many reasons why I chose to use this variable. The main reason is I couldn.t think of another topic that fit into everyone.s lives and had an effect on everyone.

The hurricane year is broken up into two seasons. They are referred to as early season and late season. The early season starts June first and runs to September 10. The late season starts on September 10 and runs to the end of November. The date of September 10 is the midway point between the two seasons. This is the date that separates early season from late season. This leads me to what my research was about. I am writing about the differences between early season and late season hurricanes and how they effect the variable that were mentioned earlier in the paper. I feel that late season hurricanes cause more economic loss than early season hurricanes.

I will start by taking about what a hurricane is and how they are formed. Then I will discuss where they are formed in relation to the seasons and why in these places. Next I will talk about the paths that these hurricanes take in regards to the seasons. Then I will compare storms of each season from different years starting in 1988 and ending in 1995. Next I will give a brief history about some of the biggest storms to ever hit and how they compare to the window of years I researched. The data from all the years storms in terms of loss of both variables will come next followed by the reasons for this. Finally a summary will end my research.

The research of my paper will involve storms that form in the Atlantic Ocean and effect The United States and its neighbors. The main reason that I have decided to research this part of the world and not look at the rest of the world is I live in this part of the United States and have been part of one of these storms. Also the data was much easier to research. Most people think of the Atlantic when they think of hurricanes.

The first priority is to find out what exactly a hurricane is. A hurricane comes from the West Indian word hurricane, meaning “big wind” (New Orleans, weather). A hurricane forms in the tropics around warm water. It starts as a disorganized storm in the ocean. When it starts to become more organized, it will be put into the first of three classifications. The classification is tropical depression. The National Hurricane Center will get a letter to help classify the storm. When the winds of the storm reach 40mph it will go into the second classification, tropical depression. The service will give it a name at this point. The name is pre-determined based on a list that recycles every six years. The list of names for the next few years are on figure one. A name will only not appear on the list if it is retired. Finally, if the storm.s wind reach 70mph, it would be classified as a hurricane. The “eye” of the hurricane is the center of the storm. This area of the storm is calm with no clouds. Around the eye the storm goes in a counter-clockwise motion. These walls are the most dangerous part of the storm. This is where the worst weather is( New Orleans, Weather). One thing that I remember from class was learning that The Northwest corner of the storm has the strongest winds while the Southeast corner has the weakest. The reason is the Northwest corner adds the actual speed of the storm to its winds while the Southeast corner subtracts the same amount wind. So if the storm was moving at 20 mph and the winds of the storm were 100mph, the NW winds would be 120mph while the SE winds would only be 80mph.The hurricanes are categorized into five categories seen in figure two.

The hurricane forms in steps. It start with a low pressure area. The air is pulled inward by the low pressure. The rotation of the Earth causes a deflection of wind to the right, causing the storm to move in a counter clockwise position. The winds on the surface accelerate near the center of the storm and is warmed up by the contact with the water(Britt, Ion Science). Here are the steps to the storm gaining strength:

1: High winds spiraling inward through bands of thunderstorms

2: whip up ocean spray, which increases evaporation. The storm begins feeding on itself, using the evaporated warm water as additional energy.

3: Rising air near the center of the storm condenses, creating heavy downpours and releasing heat that lifts the air further. This causes pressure to drop at the surface, pulling in more air and strengthening the storm.

4: Air rises to about 50