Free Essay Sample: Hurricanes and Tornadoes

Tornadoes and hurricanes are atmospheric occurrences in the form of storms with the potential to cause massive destruction. They result from unstable climatic conditions. Depending on the extent or conditions of a storm, hurricanes are also called typhoons. Hurricanes are categorized or referred to as tropical cyclones when the speed of winds surpasses 74 miles per hour, accompanied by thunder, rain, and lightning (Moore & Richard 193). Tornadoes are columns of rotating air ranging from a few yards in width and moving at destructive speeds accompanied by extensions of cumulonimbus clouds shaped like funnels (Moore & Richard 193). This essay highlights the classification of tornadoes and hurricanes concerning factors such as geographical locations, vertical shear, frequency, temperature gradient, characteristics, rotation, life span, size, and intensity.

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Classifications of Hurricanes and Tornadoes

Geographical location

Hurricanes are located over warm waters in tropical zones in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Although many tornadoes have previously occurred in the United States, their traces are evident across all continents, excluding Antarctica. In 2012, Sandy, United States, was hit by the strongest hurricane ever recorded. Its width was 1,000 miles with speeds of 185 kilometers per hour when it hit New Jersey and New York, resulting in 175 deaths and destruction of property worth over 70 billion US dollars (Eppelbaum & Alexander 69).

Vertical Shear and temperature gradients

Hurricanes need a minimum of 10 m/s of tropospheric vertical shear to grow and form, while tornadoes need a sizeable vertical shear of horizontal winds. While tornadoes only occur in regions with a high-temperature gradient, hurricanes occur in areas with little or no horizontal temperature gradient (Eppelbaum & Alexander 69). In 2013 Central Oklahoma experienced a tornado, which was over 2 miles wide. In the southern hemisphere, tornadoes and hurricanes rotate clockwise while the northern hemisphere rotates anticlockwise (Eppelbaum & Alexander 69).

Characteristics or size

A hurricane’s type and characteristics are relatively different from tornadoes. Hurricanes form and develop over moisture and in over 26.5 degrees celsius of ocean water (Moore & Richard 194). Thus, hurricanes get weak over cold water and land since the two conditions cannot sustain the storm. The eye of the hurricane refers to its warmer part that has low pressures. Areas surrounding the eye and covered by strong winds get referred to as eyewalls (Moore & Richard 193). Unlike hurricanes, tornadoes occur in many sizes and shapes. They resemble big funnels occurring over low height in a cylindrical profile known as stovepipe tornadoes. Tornadoes that stick to the ground and look like large wedges are known as wedges. Tornadoes are not easily identifiable if they occur close to the ground since they resemble a small swirl of dust. Correspondingly, rope tornadoes occur when a tornado assumes a narrow rope-like and twisted shape extending from the clouds (Eppelbaum & Alexander 70). Tornadoes with more than one vortex are capable of swirling in a common center to resemble a single funnel’s shape. The common types of tornadoes include the daredevil, multiple vortex, waterspout, fire whirls, gustnado, and steam devils.

Intensity

A tornado lasts a few minutes, while hurricanes can last for several days. Hurricanes form as a result of many convective storms that cover hundreds of kilometers. Tornadoes get powered by a single connective small-sized storm covering hundreds of meters in size.

Frequency

Regarding frequency, every year, an estimated nine tropical storms form, five of them building up to the strength of hurricanes. The Atlantic Ocean experiences hurricanes five to six times a year compared to the Caribbean experiencing a myriad of hurricanes. Low-pressure systems build up in West Africa’s coastal region before proceeding into the Atlantic Ocean to form storms (Moore, Todd, & Richard 194). The Caribbean experiences hurricanes from June to November, with many happening between August and September. The Netherlands reports the highest frequency of tornadoes cases. Tornadoes mostly occur during the fall and the spring season and reduce during winter. Other countries recording frequent tornadoes cases include New Zealand, parts of Europe, Australia, South Africa, and Paraguay (Moore et al. 194).

Determining a Storm’s Intensity

A tornado or hurricane storm's intensity gets valued in a myriad of ways. Hurricanes use the Saffir-Simpson scale to categorize the intensity of the wind (Edwards, Roger, et al. 643). The extent of damage and speed of the wind increases from the first to the fifth category. Category 1 hurricanes maintain a velocity of 74-95 mph, causing minimum damage, while type 2 has a 96-110 mph wind speed, thus causing moderate damage (Edwards et al. 643). Category 3 and 4 occur at wind speeds of between 111-130 and 131-155 mph, respectively; they cause extensive and extreme damage (Edwards et al. 644). Type 5 may cause catastrophic damage as a result of its wind speed, which exceeds 155mph. A tornadoes’ intensity gets measured using scales such as Torro (T) scale, Fujita (F), and Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale (Edwards et al. 648). These scales’ range varies from T0, EF0, and FO for small damage caused in trees to T5, EF5, and T11 for extreme damage on buildings and skyscrapers. 80% of tornadoes in the United States are categorized in the EF0 and EF1 category, with less than 1% getting violent (Edwards et al. 643).

In conclusion, tornadoes and hurricanes result from unstable atmospheric conditions. They are likely to lead to massive destruction of property and deaths if they occur under high intensities. While hurricanes occur under warm ocean waters of 26.5 degrees, tornadoes only take form on dry land. Tornadoes are likely not to get recognized if they occur close to the ground and in small swirls. The Saffir-Simpson scale is used to evaluate the intensity of wind in hurricanes. In contrast, hurricanes use the Torro (T) scale, Fujita (F), and Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale to measure its strength.

Works Cited

Edwards, Roger, et al. "Tornado intensity estimation: Past, present, and future." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 94.5 (2013): 641-653.Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/bams/article/94/5/641/60311

Eppelbaum, Lev, and Alexander Isakov. "Implementation of the geo-correlation methodology for predictability of catastrophic weather events: long-term US tornado season and short-term hurricanes." Environmental Earth Sciences 74.4 (2015).Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-015-4373-z

Moore, Todd W., and Richard W. Dixon. "A Spatiotemporal Analysis and Description of Hurricane Ivan's (2004) Tornado Clusters." Papers in Applied Geography 1.2 (2015): 192-196. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23754931.2015.1012449