Because of this, the Outer Banks - barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina - often did not get timely weather information. The hurricane of 1944, which hit the Eastern coast from Cape Hatteras all the way up to Newfoundland, resulted in a major loss of life and significant damage on the Outer Banks (4). The United States, because of its climate, has experienced numerous devastating tornado outbreaks and flash floods, the hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900 was the worst single weather disaster in United States history. A Category 4 hurricane (severe but not the strongest, which would be Category 5) came ashore into Galveston, a beach town, on September 8, while the town and island still had a large population of vacationers. While the weather predictors had neither satellites nor Doppler weather, they realized a hurricane was approaching, and they did warn the population to leave the island. Possibly...
Although we will never know exactly how many people died in Galveston that day, the number is at least 8,000. Waves rose more than 15 feet, driven by winds of 130 mph. Galveston erected and 18-foot high wall to keep storm surges away, but it is possible for a hurricane to create a storm surge higher than that, and today's Galveston is much larger than it was in 1900. Galveston is not guaranteed protection, and it could take days to completely evacuate the city (NOAA, 2004).
Weather "From the beginning, slowness defined it. Tedious, plodding, grinding, unrelenting slowness…And when the storm system took an unexpected turn as it spread into the central Plains, the table was set for violent weather," (Hoedel & Gutierrez, 2012). Hoedel & Gutierrez (2012) are describing the mysterious origins of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado, one of the deadliest in American history. After its tumultuous journey "down the Pacific Coast, across the California
Although I have not experienced a weather-related disaster that resulted in deaths at a school, I was present during a flash flood that caused several people—staff, students, and teachers—to suffer minor injuries. The event catalyzed the community into action. The existing emergency management plan was fairly detailed and yet it was not taken seriously enough by school administrators to have in place the requisite resources or protocols. More importantly, staff
Television can influence kids in many ways, some of them great, and some of them not so great. In my future, I see science and the weather playing a big part, and because of that, I think the Weather Channel has most influenced me and my choices for the future. I was not a fan of weather or of science for that matter, until I got hooked on the
"The Great Storm reigns today as the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Between 10,000 and 12,000 people died during the storm...the added toll on commercial structures created a monetary loss of $30 million, about $700 million in today's dollars" (Smith 2003). A more recent powerful tropical system that affected the Texas coast was that of Hurricane Carla. Carla illustrated how storms are particularly damaging to the low-lying areas of
TORNADOES What causes a tornado? Tornado' comes in English from a Spanish word 'tornada' that means 'thunderstorm'. As defined by Nation Weather Service, a tornado is a 'violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and pendant from a thunderstorm'. Tornadoes result when there is stuffiest amount of moisture in the atmosphere at lower and mid levels, and when this condition gets combined with warm unstable air that rises above
Seconds later the twister struck. The kitchen door fell on the husband, pinning him to the ground. After the roof blew away, hail battered his face and body. The house disintegrated, but he survived and so did the dog. The woman, however, was crushed in the debris (Rosenfeld 179). By coincidence, researchers from the University of Oklahoma were just outside Spencer before the tornado hit, which is one reason authors
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