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Severe Weather
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Vertical movements of warm, unstable air
Three types of severe weather:
Thunderstorms
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
Weather
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Differences in air pressure cause Earth’s wind
and weather changes.
Storms are natural disturbances in the
atmosphere that involve the following:
Air Pressure
Clouds
Precipitation
Strong Winds
Tornadoes
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Tornadoes are violently whirling winds that are
sometimes visible as a funnel shaped cloud.
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They are produced by severe thunderstorms
with spiraling high winds and extremely low
pressure.
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There are about 770 tornadoes each year in the
US
Thunderstorms
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A brief storm producing thunder and lightning
(over a small area of land).
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They are produced rapidly when rising air causes
cumulus clouds to build upward into a
thunderhead, creating a cumulonumbus cloud.
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Usually have strong winds, heavy rain (sometimes
snow or hail).
Thunderstorms
 At
any given time, there are about
2,000 thunderstorms occurring on
Earth (45,000 per day)!!!
 Warm
locations (near the equator)
experience the most thunderstorms
Hurricanes
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Huge, rotating storms that form over the
ocean near the equator.
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Produce very strong winds, heavy rains and
large powerful waves.
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Can cause severe flooding and damage from
strong winds.
Hurricane Formation
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Form when large amounts of water vapor
condense and form thunderstorms with little
cloud rotation (need warm water!).
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Eye: center of the hurricane that has the least
amount of precipitation and the lowest winds.
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Eyewall: greatest winds and precipitation
Eyewall
Eye
Hurricanes
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Have the greatest range of air pressure
because there are so many different parts
of a hurricane.
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Storm surge=a wide dome of water that
sweeps across the coast as a hurricane’s eye
moves onto the coast and causes flooding.
Hurricanes
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Ways a hurricane loses energy:
1.
Friction from land slows it down
Lack of warm water
2.
Winter Storms
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Associated with quickly moving cold fronts.
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Can produce high winds and very low
temperatures.
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Include blizzards (long lasting snow storm with
very strong winds and large amounts of snow
fall) and ice storms (freezing rain).