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Tornados

Tornados. Most destructive by product of a thunderstorm Violently rotating column of air that usually touches the ground Produces the fasted winds on Earth Can cause severe property damage, personal injury, and loss of life Measured on the Fujits Tornado Intensity scale

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Tornados

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  1. Tornados • Most destructive by product of a thunderstorm • Violently rotating column of air that usually touches the ground • Produces the fasted winds on Earth • Can cause severe property damage, personal injury, and loss of life • Measured on the Fujits Tornado Intensity scale • Lowest F0 (65 km/hr or 40 mph)- windows broken • F5 (513 km/hr or 318 mph) Lifts and moves buildings • Safety: stay or go indoors into the basement, avoid large spaces and windows, cover with mattress/ furniture • If outdoors, lie down, avoid vehicles, and cover your head and neck

  2. Tornados • Caused by the collision of warm moist air and cold dry air • This causes a supercell (very large thunderstorm system) that contains a strong, rotating updraft • Formed from dark gray storm clouds that lower down to the ground • This forms a funnel shape • Tornadoes can strike anywhere throughout the U.S. but most often appear in the Midwest • More likely to occur when there are large temperature differences in high and low altitude air in the spring

  3. Hurricane • A large rotating storm from the tropics with sustained winds of at least 74 mph • Very low pressure at the center, or the eye, which is very calm • Right outside the eye, in the eye wall, are the strongest winds and heaviest rains • Must have a supply of warm moist air for a long period of time to form • The humid air begins to rise. As it rises, it cools and conenses which gives off heat • Humid air flows in at the bottom to replace the rising air • This causes the air to cycle, and then eventually spin

  4. Hurricane • Hurricanes begin to lose strength once they’re over land because there is no more moist air to fuel the storm • It has heavy winds, destructive waves, and flooding that can damage property, cause injury, and death To prepare for a hurricane: • Gather emergency supplies • Radio, flashlight, food and water • Shut off water and electricity • Evacuate home to designed areas calmly

  5. Monsoon • A monsoon are winds that change seasonally that usually bring heavy rainfall, high winds, and thunderstorms • They are caused by the change of season, which causes changes in global air pressure • In Arizona, this causes the prevailing winds to change and come from the southwest • Rain is no longer hits the mountains in California, and makes its way to Arizona instead • Monsoon season in Arizona is between June 15 to September 30

  6. Monsoon • Monsoons often are associated with dust storms and thunderstorms • This can be dangerous to drivers and home owners • They can cause lightning strikes, flash floods, impair visibility, and cause high enough winds to tear down trees • To be safe during a monsoon: • Don’t drive through areas filled with water • Turn off unnecessary electronics • If you are driving during a monsoon, pull off to the side of the road, turn off your car and lights, and turn off your vehicle

  7. Floods • An overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry • Caused by heavy or long lasting rains, or rapid melting of winter snows • Can also be caused by failing dams and a lack of trees and vegetation • Flash floods are rapid flooding of low-lying areas like washes rivers and streams • Floods can damage property, spread disease and bacteria, and cause the loss of human and animal life

  8. Floods • Floods can also add sediments and nutrients back to the land to enrich the soil • Can be an important annual event to water and grow crops • To prevent floods, levees (man made embankments built to keep rivers from overflowing) can be built • Vegetation can be planted, as plant roots slow down runoff and erosion

  9. Drought • A drought is a period in which rainfall is below the expected average for that location • Climate is so dry for an extended period that native plants can’t grow • Droughts can adversely affect both water and food supplies • Droughts are worse in poor countries that depend on rainfall to grow crops because they have no irrigation • Can be worsened by poor land management

  10. Drought • Droughts can reduce the runoff of pollution into waterways • This can improve the quality of water in lakes, rivers, and bays • Droughts can cause desertification: the near permanent process that turn fertile land into infertile desert • Can help be prevented by soil and water conservation • Improved animal herding techniques • Better and increased storage of water in aquifers

  11. Thunderstorms • Characterized by towering cumulonimbus clouds, torrential rain, hail, thunder, and lightning • Usually occur in mid afternoon heat because of warm, moist, unstable air • Cold front causes this warm air to rise rapidly in convection cells • A single cell of thunderstorms can last for an hour, while multiple cells can last for a day or more

  12. Thunderstorms • Thunderstorms are associated with lighting, which is a discharge of electricity from a thundercloud to the ground, or from cloud to cloud • Lightning can cause damage to people and structures, set fires • Attracted to tall objects, as well as metal objects • If caught in a thunderstorm • Stay away from water, trees, high ground, and metal • Remain 15 ft from other people, and get low • If indoors, stay away from the phone, plumbing, electrical appliances, doors, and windows

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