I am Sherwin and I have just been appointed to be a storm chaser. Today we are chasing Hurricanes in Louisiana.

I will be explaining the basic facts about these catastrophic natural disasters called hurricanes. There were recently two hurricanes; they were hurricane Katrina and hurricane Rita. These two hurricanes caused major damage, as seen the on news and devastated thousands of lives. Below are some explanations of how these wind spirals occur. When Hurricanes occur and why Hurricanes occur mostly in summer and autumn. This is because there are all the necessary ingredients for a hurricane to build up and start. These ingredients include: warm ocean water of at least 26C; the presence of a pre-existing region of lower troposphere horizontal wind convergence, a vertical temperature structure that will overturn when saturated, resulting in cumulonimbus clouds, small wind speed and direction changes with height between the surface and upper troposphere, a location pole ward of greater than 4o-5o of latitude. The hurricane requires all of these things explaining why they usually occur over in warm months over warm waters. Humidity near a hurricane The humidity is always high near a hurricane. This is because when the hot air is evaporated and a cool breeze blows, the hot air spins violently (like water down the sink) to get through the cold air. This forms the hurricane. After the hot air gets through, the cold winds that the hurricane makes, blows and makes the hot air go cold, and since hot air can carry more water than cold air, it rains and makes the air even more humid.

Dangers of hurricanes Storm Surges are a type of danger resulting from a hurricane. This means the sea level rises and causes a strong tide as a result of strong winds and low surface pressure characterized by a hurricane. Flooding is another danger caused by a hurricane. It results in large amounts of water in the hurricane combined with lots of rainfall. This can cause flooding inland even after the hurricane loses speed. Tornadoes may lurk in the spiral bands and eye wall of the hurricane. These also cause a lot of danger, due to the potential to damage buildings. Safety issues and things to do When chasing a hurricane it is extremely windy, (obviously) and the best way to avoid them is by moving away from the hurricane with all the windows shut or else you might get sucked out!! Also look out for flying debris; it could be from a tree to a flying truck! If a hurricane is nearing your house, ALWAYS stay indoors, lock doors and prevent any wind from entering the house, nail planks of wood to the windows so they dont shatter and cut you and try not to keep debris i.e. rubbish, in the driveways and gardens because it may fly out and hit some one. Something very important during a hurricane out break is a disaster safety pack. This allows you to have basic equipment during a disaster. The things the put in this pack are things like: water, clothes, Band-Aids, torch, toiletries, mobile phone etc. Also, have a disaster family plan ready, just in case. Bibliography
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http://www.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/cows/archive/hurricanes/tsld001.htm http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html http://www.weatherwizkids.com/hurricane1.htm http://www.fema.gov/kids/hurr.htm http://www.newsmediastudio.org/DataDiscovery/Hurr_ED_Centre/Hurr Structure_Engergetics/Hurr_Struct.html