Hurricanes

Location of Cyclone

Southern hemisphere

Location of Typhoon

Western Hemisphere- Asia, Pacific

Location of Hurricane

Northern hemisphere

How many stages of a hurricane are there?

4

Stage 1 of a hurricane

Tropical disturbance/tropical wave

-No closed isobars and thunder and lightening

Stage 2 of a hurricane

Tropical Depression

-20-33kts and at least one closed isobar

Stage 3 of a hurricane

Tropical storm

34-63kts

Stage 4 of a hurricane

Hurricane

64kts +

Category 1 of a hurricane

64-82kts

Category 2 of a hurricane

83-95kts

Category 3 of a hurricane

96-112kts

Category 4 of a hurricane

113-136kts

Considered a major hurricane

Category 5 of a hurricane

137+

NH hurricane season

June 1st-Nov 30th

Peak season of a hurricane

Mid aug-Mid oct

Where can hurricanes form

5 degrees from the equator

Gale force winds

34kts +

Average diameter of a hurricane

400-500 miles

Average life span of a hurricane

10 days

Temp of water for a hurricane to form

80 degrees F

Tropical cyclone characteristics

-tropics

-200-500 miles in diameter

-strongest winds at the eye wall

-Eye is 20-30 miles in diameter

-No fronts

Extra-tropical cyclone

-Outside the tropics

-forms any time of the year

-700-1000mi in diameter

-No eye

-Strongest winds are dispersed

-Usually attached to fronts

How to find the net wind speed of the navigable side

hurricane wind speed - hurricane movement speed

How to find the net wind speed of the dangerous side

Hurricane wind speed + hurricane movement speed

How is the wave period measured

in sec from one crest to the other

Short wave period

5-8 sec

Long period

9-20sec

When moving away from a hurricane where do you put the wind in the NH

Starboard quarter

When moving away from a hurricane where do you put the wind in the SH

Port quarter

1-2-3 rule

Used to determine the danger area

100-200-300nm added every 24-48-72hrs

How to estimate the position of a tropical storms center

Buys ballots law

First sign of a well-developed tropical cyclone

Long ocean swell

Anticyclones

dry, fair weather

clockwise circulation

Meteorological Bombs

Any system whos central pressure drops rapidly

Secondary Lows

developes with or in accotiation with a primary low or at the tail end of a cold front

upper-level lows

in higher elevations

cutoff lows

aloft or on the surface, difficult to predict

tropical waves

troughs of low pressure moving west with the trade winds