Geography- Tornados & Hurricanes

What are hurricanes?

Hurricanes are strong wind storms, which are cyclonic in nature. This means that they revolve around a central point, which is known as an 'eye'. The eye is the calmest part in the storm, while the winds raging around the storm have reached a speed of 119 km an hour! The winds rotate in an anti-clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere, and in a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere.

How are hurricanes formed?

Hurricanes are formed in tropical, ocean areas. The warm air above the ocean begins to rise, and as it rises, it condenses and forms clouds and rain droplets. The process of condensation always results in the release of heat. So when the heated air rises and releases heat during condensation, the surrounding air also becomes warm. This warm air rises further, and then gets blown away by the high altitude winds, and cold air is pushed down to the ocean. The cold air then becomes warm because of the warmth of the ocean, and rises up again and is blown away. In addition, converging winds over the ocean (winds that run into each other) also push the ocean air upwards. Since the ocean air is in any case rising when they are warmed, the converging winds make it rise even faster. Thus, due to these phenomena, the movement of air increasingly becomes more and more rapid.

What are tornadoes?

Far more violent than hurricanes are tornadoes. Winds surrounding tornadoes often reach speeds of 100 miles an hour, and have even reached speeds of 300 miles an hour.

How are tornadoes formed?

Tornadoes are usually formed from thunderstorms and can be defined as a violent column of air extending from the base of a thundercloud to the ground. To put it simply, thunderstorms that rage in the sky 'drop' ...