Severe-Storm Scientists by Jennifer Way

Author:Jennifer Way
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC

Categorizing Hurricanes

The National Hurricane Center measures hurricane intensity using a scale called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. A storm becomes a Category 1 hurricane when its winds reach 74 to 95 miles per hour (119–153 km/h). From 96 to 110 mph (154–177 km/h), it is a Category 2 storm. Category 3 ranges from 111 to 129 mph (178–208 km/h). Category 4 storms have winds from 130 to 156 mph (209–251 km/h), and storms with higher winds are Category 5—the highest category.

The radar showed new details of eyewalls forming and changing. Lee’s plane’s radar caught two eyewalls in Rita—the one surrounding the eye and a new one that had formed from rain bands outside the inner eyewall. Scientists believe rain bands in a hurricane tighten to form a new eyewall, which chokes off and replaces the inner one. They call this process the eyewall replacement cycle. “Typically when the hurricane goes through this type of cycle, it intensifies. That’s why we’re so interested in capturing this process,” Lee says.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.