Hurricane in the broad sense of the word, it is a strong wind with a speed of over 30 m/s. A hurricane (in the tropics of the Pacific Ocean - a typhoon) always blows counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth, and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

This concept covers both the breeze, and the storm, and the hurricane itself. This wind with a speed of over 120 km / h (12 points) "lives", that is, it moves on the planet, usually 9-12 days. Forecasters give it a name to make it easier to work with it. A few years ago it was only female names, but after long protests from women's organizations, this discrimination was abolished.

Hurricanes are one of the most powerful forces of the elements. In terms of their harmful effects, they are not inferior to such terrible natural disasters as earthquakes. This is due to the fact that they carry enormous energy. Its amount released by a hurricane of average power in one hour is equal to the energy of a nuclear explosion of 36 Mgt.

Hurricane wind destroys strong and demolishes light structures, devastates sown fields, breaks wires and knocks down power lines and communication poles, damages highways and bridges, breaks and uproots trees, damages and sinks ships, causes accidents on public energy networks in production . There were cases when hurricane winds destroyed dams and dams, which led to large floods, threw trains off the rails, tore bridges from supports, knocked down factory pipes, and threw ships onto land.

Hurricanes and storm winds in winter conditions often lead to snow storms, when huge masses of snow move at high speed from one place to another. Their duration can be from several hours to several days. Especially dangerous are snowstorms that take place simultaneously with snowfall, at low temperatures or with sharp changes in it. Under these conditions, a snowstorm turns into a genuine natural disaster, causing significant damage to the regions. Houses, farm and livestock buildings are covered with snow. Sometimes snowdrifts reach the height of a four-story building. Over a large area, the movement of all types of transport is stopped for a long time due to snow drifts. Communication is broken, the supply of electricity, heat and water is interrupted. There are also frequent human casualties.

In our country, hurricanes most often occur in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, on Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Chukotka, and the Kuril Islands. One of the strongest hurricanes in Kamchatka was on the night of March 13, 1988. Windows and doors were shattered in thousands of apartments, the wind bent traffic lights and poles, tore off roofs from hundreds of houses, felled trees. The power supply of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky failed, and the city was left without heat and water. The wind speed reached 140 km/h.

On the territory of Russia, hurricanes, storms and tornadoes can occur at any time of the year, but most often in August and September. This cyclicity helps forecasts. Forecasters classify hurricanes, storms and tornadoes as extreme events with a moderate propagation speed, so most often it will be possible to announce a storm warning. It can be transmitted through the channels of civil defense: after the sound of the siren "Attention everyone!" listen to local radio and television.

The most important characteristic of a hurricane is its wind speed. From the table below. 1 (on the Beaufort scale) shows the dependence of the wind speed and the names of the regimes, which indicates the strength of the hurricane (storm, storm).

Hurricanes vary greatly in size. Usually, the width of the zone of catastrophic destruction is taken as its width. Often, the area of ​​storm force winds with relatively little damage is added to this zone. Then the width of the hurricane is measured in hundreds of kilometers, sometimes reaching 1000.

For typhoons (tropical hurricanes of the Pacific Ocean), the destruction band is usually 15-45 km.

The average duration of a hurricane is 9-12 days.

Often the downpours that accompany a hurricane are much more dangerous than the hurricane itself (they cause flooding and destruction of buildings and structures).

Table 1. Name of the wind regime depending on the wind speed

Storm is a wind that is slower than a hurricane. However, it is quite large and reaches 15-20 m/s. Losses and destruction from storms are significantly less than from hurricanes. Sometimes a strong storm is called a storm.

The duration of storms is from several hours to several days, the width is from tens to several hundreds of kilometers. Both are often accompanied by fairly significant precipitation.

AT summer time heavy downpours accompanying hurricanes, often, in turn, are the cause of such natural phenomena as mudflows, landslides.

So, in July 1989, a powerful typhoon "Judy" at a speed of 46 m / s and with heavy showers swept from south to north of the Far East region. 109 settlements were flooded, in which about 2 thousand houses were damaged, 267 bridges were destroyed and demolished, 1340 km of roads, 700 km of power lines were disabled, 120 thousand hectares of agricultural land were flooded. 8,000 people were evacuated from dangerous areas. There were also human casualties.

Classification of hurricanes and storms

Hurricanes are usually divided into tropical and extra-tropical. tropical called hurricanes that originate in tropical latitudes, and extratropical- in extratronic. In addition, tropical hurricanes are often subdivided into hurricanes that originate over Atlantic ocean and over Quiet. The latter are called typhoons.

There is no generally accepted, established classification of storms. Most often they are divided into two groups: vortex and flow.

Vortex are complex vortex formations caused by cyclonic activity and spreading over large areas.

Vortex storms are subdivided into dust, snow and squall storms. In winter they turn into snow. In Russia, such storms are often called blizzard, snowstorm, snowstorm.

Squall storms arise, as a rule, suddenly, and are extremely short in time (several minutes). For example, within 10 minutes the wind speed can increase from 3 to 31 m/s.

Streaming These are local phenomena of small distribution. They are peculiar, sharply isolated and inferior in their significance to eddy storms.

Stream storms are subdivided into katabatic and jet storms. With stock, the air flow moves down the slope from top to bottom. Jets are characterized by the fact that the air flow moves horizontally or even up the slope. They pass most often between the chains of mountains connecting the valleys.

Tornado

Tornado (tornado) is an ascending vortex consisting of extremely rapidly rotating air mixed with particles of moisture, sand, dust and other suspensions. It is a rapidly rotating air funnel hanging from a cloud and falling to the ground in the form of a trunk. This is the smallest in size and the largest in terms of rotation speed form of vortex air movement.

Tornado hard to miss: it is a dark column of swirling air with a diameter of several tens to several hundred meters. As he approaches, a deafening roar is heard. A tornado is born under a thundercloud and seems to hang from it when with a curved axis of rotation (the air rotates in a column counterclockwise at a speed of up to 100 meters per second). Inside the giant air funnel, the pressure is always lowered, so everything that the vortex is able to tear off the ground is sucked in there and rises in a spiral.

A tornado moves above the ground at an average speed of 50-60 km/h. Observers note that his appearance immediately causes panic.

Tornadoes form in many areas of the globe. Very often accompanied by thunderstorms, hail and downpours of extraordinary strength and size.

Occurs both above the water surface and over land. Most often - during hot weather and high humidity, when air instability in the lower layers of the atmosphere appeared especially sharply. As a rule, a tornado is born from a cumulonimbus cloud, descending to the ground in the form of a dark funnel. Sometimes they occur even in clear weather. What parameters are characterized by tornadoes?

Firstly, the size of a tornado cloud in diameter is 5-10 km, less often up to 15. The height is 4-5 km, sometimes up to 15. The distance between the base of the cloud and the ground is usually small, on the order of several hundred meters. Secondly, at the base of the mother cloud of the tornado there is a collar cloud. Its width is 3-4 km, the thickness is about 300 m, the upper surface is at a height, for the most part, 1500 m. Under the collar cloud lies a wall cloud, from the lower surface of which the tornado itself hangs. Thirdly, the width of the wall cloud is 1.5–2 km, the thickness is 300–450 m, and the lower surface is at a height of 500–600 m.

The tornado itself is like a pump that sucks and lifts various relatively small objects into the cloud. Getting into the vortex ring, they are supported in it and transferred to tens of kilometers.

A funnel is the main component of a tornado. It is a spiral vortex. The inner cavity is tens to hundreds of meters across.

In the walls of a tornado, the movement of air is directed in a spiral and often reaches speeds of up to 200 m/s. Dust, debris, various objects, people, animals rise up not but in the internal cavity, usually empty, but in the walls.

The wall thickness of dense tornadoes is much less than the width of the cavity and is measured by a few meters. In vague ones, on the contrary, the thickness of the walls is much greater than the width of the cavity and reaches several tens and even hundreds of meters.

The speed of rotation of air in the funnel can reach 600-1000 km / h, sometimes more.

The time of formation of a vortex is usually calculated in minutes, less often in tens of minutes. The total time of existence is also calculated in minutes, but sometimes in hours. There were cases when a group of tornadoes formed from one cloud (if the cloud reached 30-50 km).

The total length of the tornado's path is estimated from hundreds of meters to tens and hundreds of kilometers, and the average travel speed is approximately 50-60 km/h. The average width is 350-400 m. Hills, forests, seas, lakes, rivers are not an obstacle. When crossing water basins, a tornado can completely drain a small lake or swamp.

One of the features of the movement of a tornado is its jumping. After walking some distance on the ground, it can rise into the air and not touch the ground, and then descend again. In contact with the surface, causes great destruction.

Such actions are determined by two factors - the ramming of rapidly rotating air and the large pressure difference between the periphery and the inside of the funnel - due to the huge centrifugal force. The last factor determines the effect of suction of everything that gets in the way. Animals, people, cars, small and light houses, trees uprooted, roofs torn off can be lifted into the air and carried hundreds of meters and even kilometers. A tornado destroys residential and industrial buildings, breaks power supply and communication lines, disables equipment, and often leads to human casualties.

In Russia, they most often occur in the central regions, the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, on the coast and in the waters of the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic Seas.

A tornado that originated on July 8, 1984 in the north-west of Moscow and passed almost to Vologda (up to 300 km) had a monstrous, incredible power, by a lucky chance bypassing large cities and villages. The width of the destruction strip reached 300-500 m. This was accompanied by the fallout of a large hail.

Terrifying were the consequences of another tornado of this family, called the "Ivanovo Monster". It arose 15 km south of Ivanovo and zigzagged for about 100 km through the forests, fields, suburbs of Ivanovo, then went to the Volga, destroyed the Lunevo camp site and died down in the forests near Kostroma. In the Ivanovo region alone, 680 residential buildings, 200 industrial and Agriculture, 20 schools, kindergartens. 416 families were left homeless, 500 garden and country houses were destroyed. More than 20 people died.

Statistics tells about tornadoes near Arzamas, Murom, Kursk, Vyatka and Yaroslavl. In the north, they were observed near the Solovetsky Islands, in the south - on the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas. In the Black and Azov Seas, an average of 25-30 tornadoes pass in 10 years. Tornadoes that form on the seas very often go to the coast, where they not only do not lose, but also increase their strength.

It is extremely difficult to predict the place and time of the appearance of a tornado. Therefore, for the most part, they arise suddenly for people, it is all the more impossible to predict the consequences.

Most often, tornadoes are subdivided according to their structure: dense (sharply limited) and vague (indistinctly limited). Moreover, the transverse size of the funnel of a blurry tornado, as a rule, is much larger than that of a sharply limited one.

In addition, tornadoes are divided into four groups: dust whirlwinds, small short-term action, small long-term action, and hurricane whirlwinds.

Small tornadoes of short duration have a path length of no more than a kilometer, but have significant destructive power. They are relatively rare. The length of the path of small long-acting tornadoes is estimated at several kilometers. Hurricane whirlwinds are larger tornadoes and travel several tens of kilometers during their movement.

If you don’t take cover from a strong tornado in time, it can lift and throw a person from a height of the 10th floor, bring down flying objects, debris, crush him in the ruins of a building.

The best means of escape when approaching a tornado- take shelter. To obtain up-to-date information from the civil defense service, it is best to use a battery-powered radio receiver: most likely, at the beginning of a tornado, the power supply will stop, and it is necessary to be aware of the messages of the Civil Defense and Emergency Situations headquarters every minute. Very often, secondary disasters (fires, floods, accidents) are much larger and more dangerous than destruction, so constantly received information can protect. If there is time, you need to close the doors, ventilation, dormer windows. The main difference from protection during a hurricane: during a tornado, you can hide from disaster only in basements and underground structures, and not inside the building itself.

Among the processes occurring in nature are storms and hurricanes. They can bring considerable damage, both material and associated with human casualties. Consider the difference between a storm and a hurricane.

Definition

Hurricane

The discrepancy between atmospheric pressure parameters in different air zones leads to the formation of strong winds. A hurricane is a type of such wind. It is characterized by enormous power and destructive power. In different hemispheres of the Earth, its direction is different. In the South - the movement is clockwise, in the North - in the opposite direction. Forecasters give names to hurricanes for convenience.

Hurricane

Storm

The storm is also a type of wind. Its scale is not so grandiose, but it is also capable of causing serious damage to agricultural land, communication lines and other important objects. Most often, the element is accompanied by a rise up and the transfer of dust and sand over long distances, and in winter - snow.

Comparison

Let us pay attention to some details that make up the difference between a storm and a hurricane.

Wind speed

This is one of the main features that make it possible to separate two natural phenomena from each other. The hurricane moves more rapidly, its speed starts from 30 m/s. The speed of a storm, inferior in this respect to a hurricane, can reach 20 m/s.

wind force

To describe the power of a hurricane, the following example can be given. If a nuclear explosion were made in the sea, it could lift a mass of water equal to 10 million tons. One of the hurricanes (passed in the area of ​​the island of Puerto Rico) caused 2.5 billion tons of water to fall to the ground. The storm is a more moderate element. Wind patterns, including storms and hurricanes, are displayed on the Beaufort scale, where their strength is rated in points.

Duration

This factor also applies to how a storm differs from a hurricane. Hurricane most often rages longer. It can move around the planet for almost two weeks. The storm can subside in a few hours, but often lasts for several days. Both natural disasters often rage, accompanied by heavy rainfall.

Effects

A hurricane moving at breakneck speed tears off the roofs of buildings, demolishes communication poles, breaks wires, devastates fields. Massive air currents, rotating, uproot trees, uproot and carry light buildings, cars, animals and people who did not have time to hide. The action of a hurricane entails the appearance of secondary destructive factors: landslides, landslides, floods.

Storm damage is generally smaller, but it can also be very significant. This phenomenon is often accompanied by drifts. Especially such consequences are typical for snow storms. As a result, traffic becomes impossible, the communication system is damaged, and the power supply fails. During a storm, as in a hurricane, people and animals can die.

Tornadoes and Tornadoes.

A tornado (synonyms - tornado, thrombus, meso-hurricane) is a very strong rotating whirlwind with horizontal dimensions of less than 50 km and vertical dimensions of less than 10 km, with hurricane wind speeds of more than 33 m/s.

Tornado in the city of Nizhnevartovsk.

tornado in Krasnozavodsk
Strong winds, squalls and tornadoes...

Tornado and lightning.
Tornado in Surgut (September 4, 2008.

The form of tornadoes can be diverse, but most often tornadoes have the form of a rotating trunk, pipe or funnel hanging from the parent cloud (hence their names: tromb - in French pipe and tornado - in Spanish rotating).

THE ORIGIN OF A TWORKS

The occurrence of a tornado is also possible in clear, cloudless weather. The tornado has funnel-shaped extensions in the upper and lower parts. The air in a tornado rotates, as a rule, counterclockwise at a speed of up to 300 km / h, while it rises in a spiral upward, drawing in dust or water due to the resulting pressure difference. The air pressure in the tornado is reduced. The height of the sleeve can reach 800-1500 m, the diameter above water - tens of meters, and above land - hundreds of meters. The time of existence of a tornado is from several minutes to several hours. The length of the path is from hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers.

First, you can see a dark rotating funnel, then there is silence for a while, and then a tornado suddenly appears. The air in the tornado rotates counterclockwise and at the same time rises in a spiral, in contact with the Earth's surface, draws in dust, water and various objects. These destructions are associated with the action of rapidly rotating air and a sharp rise of air masses upwards. As a result of these phenomena, some objects (cars, light houses, building roofs, people and animals) can lift off the ground and be transported hundreds of meters.

Tornado in Surgut...
Tornado in Tolyatti.

Tornadoes often appear in groups of two...

TORNADO

Tornado is a tornado of gigantic destructive power. The term is commonly used in the United States, comes from a distorted Spanish word "tronada", that is, a thunderstorm.

Tornadoes usually occur in the warm sector of a cyclone when, due to the action of a strong side wind, a collision of warm and cold air currents occurs. A tornado begins like an ordinary thunderstorm, often accompanied by rain and hail.

tornado 6.

Tornado
The wind speed in a tornado is so high that no anemometers can measure it. In the US, it is determined using Doppler radar. According to the speed of rotation of the air in the funnel, tornadoes are classified into six categories. The scale with six categories F0-F5 for classifying American tornadoes was introduced by Professor Theodore Fujita of the University of Chicago in 1971. Category F1 on the Fujita scale corresponds to 12 points on the Beaufort scale (32 m/s, hurricane). Fujita also introduced categories F6-F12 (from 142 m/s to the speed of sound), apparently just in case. But the recorded wind speed in a tornado has never exceeded the F5 category, it is assumed that such tornadoes will not be observed.

The reason for the formation of such powerful and frequent tornadoes in the United States is warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.

ORIGIN OF TORNADO

The emergence of a tornado is an amazing mystery, for some reason there is surprisingly little information about the origin of these phenomena, but this phenomenon cannot be called small or insignificant. And the prediction of their appearances could be a significant achievement in general. In nature, the formation of vortices occurs all the time. Everyone has seen the formation of a funnel in the flowing water from the bath, marveling at the energy of the water as it forms.
Tornado. 2008-02-23. Welcoming summer.
Japan hit by tornado: 9 dead.



Tornado and Tornado. The inexplicable is the incredible.

TYPHOONS ARE A HAZARDOUS NATURAL PHENOMENON

These are also atmospheric vortices, but they are generated by tropical cyclones. Cyclone is an area reduced pressure in an atmosphere with a minimum in the center.

Typhoon Morakot forced Taiwan's Defense Minister to resign.
The main area of ​​occurrence of tropical cyclones is the water area of ​​all oceans adjacent to the equator and enclosed between the parallels of 10-20 degrees north and south latitudes. A tropical cyclone is formed where the surface of the water has a high temperature (27°C and above), exceeding the temperature of the surrounding air by 2-3°C or more.

Typhoon Nuri paralyzed Hong Kong.
Lightning and Typhoons.

Typhoon "Usagi"

Typhoon Melor is approaching the Khabarovsk Territory.

The name "typhoon" in Chinese means "strong wind" and is used to refer to the tropical cyclones that rage in the areas just listed. Cyclones of similar strength, raging in the eastern Pacific Ocean and in the Atlantic, are called hurricanes, and the same phenomena off the coast of Hindustan are called storms or simply cyclones.

At the mercy of the cyclone









Snow cyclone. 03/25/2010 00:04.
The tropical cyclone brought heavy rains to the states of India even before its arrival.

Typhoons are huge: their diameter (width) reaches 300-700 kilometers, and in some cases - up to 1000 km, height - from 5 to 15 km. Warm and humid air, rising up, forms rain clouds over the typhoon area, carrying a huge amount of water. The heavy rains brought by the typhoon last for hours and often lead to floods.

Typhoon Mina caused a mass evacuation of Filipinos.
Philippine authorities prepare for Typhoon Lupit.
Typhoon death toll in Vietnam rises to 74
Typhoon Fengshen cost China $175 million.

The aftermath of Hurricane Ketsan in the city of Binan in Manila...
Storms and hurricanes, earthquakes and typhoons, floods and...

Every day we hear more and more sad news about how the powerful Hurricane Harvey, raging in the Gulf of Mexico, causes more destruction and claims an increasing number of human lives. Hurricanes, typhoons - all this is practically unfamiliar to residents middle lane, and therefore we decided to tell you about what this natural disaster really is.

What is a hurricane

The term "hurricane" has two main meanings. First, a hurricane is a storm, that is, a very strong wind with a speed exceeding 30 m/s. Often such storms are accompanied by strong unrest at sea or ocean. However, we are interested in the second, narrower and more familiar meaning, according to which a hurricane is a weather system. low pressure. It occurs over heated areas open water of sufficient size and is accompanied by powerful thunderstorms, showers and storms. From space, a hurricane looks like a huge funnel of clouds: it receives energy from the fact that warm, moist air rises, after which the moisture condenses in the form of water vapor and falls as rain, while the warm air that has become dry falls down. Hurricanes are also called "warm-core cyclones" because polar and extratropical cyclones operate differently.

Stormy winds during a typhoon cause the sea to crash huge waves onto the coastline

The word "hurricane" itself comes from the name of the Mayan god of the wind - Hurakan. There is another popular name for the hurricane - " tropical cyclone". But in Japan and Far East hurricanes are called typhoons. They arise and maintain their strength only above the surface of large bodies of water, and if the wind blows the hurricane to land, it will quickly exhaust itself. Therefore, it is coastal areas that suffer the most from the elements, but heavy rains generated by hurricanes often cause extensive flooding even at a distance of 40 km from the coast. Despite the fact that tropical cyclones often cause enormous damage to infrastructure, they cannot be called absolute evil. Firstly, it is thanks to hurricanes in some parts of the Earth that the drought stops and the vegetation landscape resumes. Secondly, tropical cyclones carry a large amount of energy from equatorial latitudes towards temperate latitudes, which makes them an important component of global atmospheric circulation processes. This leads to a decrease in temperature in various parts of the planet's surface, so that it avoids overheating and maintains a stable temperate climate.

What is a hurricane made of: the eye of the storm

Scheme of the structure of a hurricane: red arrows show flows of warm air, blue arrows - gradually cooling

eye of the storm(or simply "eye") - the central part of the cyclone, in which warm air descends. As a rule, it retains the correct round shape, and its diameter can reach from 3 to 370 km, but the average size of the eye is 30–60 km. An interesting “stadium effect” is associated with it: in large cyclones, the upper part of the eye is noticeably wider than the lower one, which, when viewed from the inside, actually resembles the shape of a stadium stand.

In large cyclones, the eye is usually clear and the sky in it is clear; in small ones, it can be partially or completely covered with clouds, which is characterized by significant thunderstorm activity.

eye wall

The wall of the eye of the storm can be seen either from inside the hurricane, or in photographs of space satellites.

In fact, the eye is a hole that forms a ring of dense thunderstorm cumulus clouds. Here the clouds reach their greatest height, but the maximum wind speed is reached not at the top of the wall, but at a small height above the surface of the water or land. Remember the videos from the Web, where the strongest wind tears off small buildings from the ground and blows away cars? This is the destructive power of a hurricane wall passing over a populated area.

Strong cyclones (categories 3+) change the wall several times throughout their existence. At the same time, the old wall narrows to 10-25 km, and it is replaced by a new, larger diameter. Changing the wall is a good sign: during each such procedure, the cyclone weakens, but it should be borne in mind that after the final formation of a new wall, it will quickly regain its former strength.

outer zone

The wide canvas of a hurricane consists of so-called rain bands - lines of dense thunderstorm cumulus clouds that slowly diverge from the center of the cyclone. The wall and outer zone is an area in which moist air rises through the circulation cells, but they are all smaller than the central one.

What happens when a hurricane hits land? An increase in friction on the surface causes a concentration of air currents and, as a result, rainfall.

However, the hurricane is not limited to these categories. Due to the centrifugal movement of air, it forms a cloud cover even at very high altitudes. These clouds have little in common with the dense cumulus cover of the wall and the outer zone: light and cirrus, they move rapidly from the center of the cyclone and gradually disappear. It is they who can become the first signal warning of the imminent onset of a cyclone.

Hurricane Harvey

The consequences of Hurricane Harvey: highways turned into pools of dirty water

So what stands out among its brethren " Harvey currently turning Texas into a water-covered wasteland? For starters, this is the strongest hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico since the famous Katrina that hit the United States in 2005. It was originally assigned a category four on the Saffir-Simpson scale. This is the so-called huge hurricane”: the wind speed on its territory reaches 50-70 m / s, and the flooded zone is at a height of up to 3 meters above sea level, while the floods extend ten kilometers inland.

On the last day of summer, the US National Weather Service reported that Harvey had weakened from a tropical storm to a "tropical depression" with winds dropping significantly but heavy rainfall still continuing. It remains to be hoped that soon the cyclone will completely disappear: at present, the federal authorities find it difficult to give even a rough estimate of the damage caused by the elements along its entire path.

Our planet is beautiful, and people consider themselves full owners on it. They changed her face in a way that nothing else had before the beginning of human life. But there are forces that simply cannot be controlled, even with the most high tech. These include hurricanes, storms, tornadoes, which constantly destroy everything that is dear to people. And it's impossible to stop it. One can only hide and wait for the end of nature's wrath. So how do these phenomena occur and what consequences threaten the victims? Answers to these questions have long been given by scientists.

Hurricane

A hurricane is a complex weather event. His main characteristic is a very strong wind with a speed of more than 30 meters per second (120 km/h). Its second name is a typhoon, which is a huge whirlwind. The pressure in the very center of it is lowered. Forecasters also specify that a hurricane is a tropical cyclone if it formed in South or North America. Life cycle this monster lasts from 9 to 12 days. At this time, he moves around the planet, causing damage to everything he stumbles upon. For convenience, each of them is assigned a name, most often a female one. A hurricane is, among other things, a huge bunch of energy, which in its power is not inferior to an earthquake. One hour of vortex life releases about 36 Mgt of energy, as in a nuclear explosion.

Causes of hurricanes

Scientists call the ocean the constant deposit of this phenomenon, namely those areas that are located in the tropics. The likelihood of a hurricane increasing as you get closer to the equator. There are many reasons for its appearance. It can be, for example, the force with which our planet rotates, or differences in temperature between the layers of the atmosphere, or the difference in atmospheric pressure. But these processes may not be the beginning of the birth of a hurricane. Another of the main conditions for the formation of a typhoon is a certain temperature of the underlying surface, namely water. It should not be below 27 degrees Celsius. This shows that in order for a hurricane to form at sea, a combination of favorable factors is needed.

Storm

A storm (storm) is also characterized by strong wind, but its speed is lower than during a hurricane. The speed of wind gusts in the storm is 24 meters per second (85 km/h). It can pass both over water areas of the planet and over land. In terms of area, it can be quite large. The duration of the storm can be either a couple of hours or several days. At this time, there is a very heavy rainfall. This leads to additional destructive phenomena such as landslides and mudflows. This phenomenon on the Beaufort scale is located one level lower than a hurricane. The storm in its most extreme manifestation can reach 11 points. The strongest storm was recorded in 2011. It passed over the Philippine Islands and brought thousands of deaths and destruction worth millions of dollars.

Classification of storms and hurricanes

Hurricanes are divided into two types:

Tropical - those that originated in the tropics;

Extratropical - those that originated in other parts of the planet.

Extratropics are divided into:

• those that originated in the Atlantic Ocean region;
• those that originated over the Pacific Ocean (typhoons).

There is no classification of storms that would be considered generally accepted. But most forecasters divide them into:

Vortex - complex formations that arise due to cyclones and cover a large area;

Stream - small storms, local in nature.

A vortex storm can be snow, dust, or squall. In winter, such storms are also called snowstorms or blizzards. Squalls can arise very quickly and end just as quickly.

A stream storm can be a jet storm or a stream storm. If it is jet, then the air moves horizontally or rises along the slope, and if it is drain, then it moves down the slope.

Tornado

Hurricanes and tornadoes very often accompany each other. A tornado is a whirlwind in which the air moves from bottom to top. This happens at an extremely high speed. The air there is mixed with various particles such as sand and dust. This is a funnel that hangs from a cloud and rests on the ground, somewhat similar to a trunk. Its diameter can vary from tens to hundreds of meters. The second name for this phenomenon is "tornado". As it approaches, a terrible rumble is heard. As it moves, the tornado sucks in everything it can tear off and lifts it up in a spiral. If this funnel appears, then this is a hurricane of terrible proportions. A tornado can reach speeds of about 60 km/h. It is very difficult to predict this phenomenon, which worsens the situation and leads to large losses. Hurricanes and tornadoes have claimed many lives throughout the history of their existence.

Beaufort scale

Hurricanes, storms, tornadoes are natural phenomena that can occur anywhere on the Earth. In order to understand their scale and be able to compare them, a system of measurement is needed. To do this, use the Beaufort scale. It is based on a visual assessment of what is happening and measures the strength of the wind in points. It was developed in 1806 for his own needs by a native of England, Admiral F. Beaufort. In 1874 it became generally accepted and has been used by all weather forecasters ever since. Further, it was refined and supplemented. Points in it are distributed from 0 to 12. If 0 points, then this is a complete calm, if 12 - a hurricane, bringing with it severe destruction. In 1955, in the USA and England, another 5 was added to the already existing points, that is, from 13 to 17. They are used by these countries.

How bad is a hurricane?

One of the most dangerous meteorological phenomena can be called a hurricane. The wind in it moves with great speed, causing great harm to people and their property. In addition, these air currents carry mud, sand and water with them, resulting in mudflows. Huge downpours cause floods, and if it happens in winter, snow avalanches often come down. A strong wind destroys structures, pulls out trees, overturns cars, demolishes people. Very often, fires and explosions occur due to damage to electrical networks or gas pipelines. Thus, the consequences of a hurricane are terrible, which makes them very dangerous.

Hurricanes in Russia

Hurricanes can threaten any part of Russia, but most often they occur in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Chukotka or the Kuril Islands. This misfortune can happen at any time, and August and September are considered the most dangerous. Forecasters try to foresee such repetition and warn the population about the danger. Tornadoes can also appear in the territory Russian Federation. The waters and coasts of the seas, Siberia, the Urals, the Volga region and the central regions of the state are most susceptible to this phenomenon.

Public actions in the event of a hurricane

Everyone should understand that a hurricane is a deadly phenomenon. If a warning is issued about it, you need to act quickly. The first step is to strengthen everything that can be torn off the ground, remove flammable objects and stock up on food and clean water for a couple of days in advance. You also need to move away from the windows, it is better to go to where they do not exist at all. Turn off electricity, water and gas equipment. Candles, lanterns and lamps are used for lighting. To receive weather information, you need to turn on the radio. If you follow these recommendations, nothing will threaten your life.

Thus, hurricanes are distributed all over the globe, which makes them a problem for all people. It should be remembered that they are extremely dangerous, so you must strictly follow all instructions in order to save your life.