How To Handle A Hurricane

If you were adventurous and read my post, Let's Talk Hurricanes, then you already know quite a bit about them. What I didn't discuss was how to prepare for one and what to do during a storm. So, let's talk about that now, shall we?

The first thing to understand is the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning. The American Red Cross explains that a hurricane watch means that within 48 hours meteorologists expect hurricane conditions to reach that area. Once that time period becomes 36 hours, until hurricane conditions arrive, the watch becomes a warning.

The National Weather Service tells us that a watch means we should 'be on guard'! Keep an eye on the weather reports, go over your emergency plans with your family, and get ready! Then the warning means "this is it, get ready 'cause here it comes"!

There is plenty to do to prepare before any hurricane watches or warnings. Like I have mentioned in my other posts about preparing for bad weather, How To Prepare For Tornado Season and Flooding - It Could Happen To You, it is essential that your household have a family communications plan and an emergency kit. Ready.gov, a preparation and information site managed by FEMA, can walk you through creating your own kit and developing your communications plan.

There are three main areas we are going to focus on in this post: preparing for the storm, what to do during the storm, and recovering from the storm. I gathered information from three sources to present to you: American Red Cross, National Hurricane Center/NOAA, and Ready.gov/FEMA.

Before a storm

• Develop a family communications plan.
• Build your emergency kit.
• Find out if your home is in an area that is vulnerable to wind, flood, and/or storm surge.
• Find out if there are any levees or dams that could affect your residence.
• Be prepared to have to cover your windows. This may mean installing storm shutters or just having plywood on hand to cover the windows. Tape will not prevent your windows from breaking! 
• Consider installing straps to your roof! Let EHow.com walk you through it!
• Trimming trees and bushes around the house will make them more wind resistant, and take off dead or dying limbs that may come down during high winds.
• Make sure rain gutters and downspouts are clear!
• Consider reinforcing your garage door. Wind inside a garage can do some expensive structural damage!
• Make sure you have a place to bring in any outdoor items, such as patio furniture and garbage cans. Anything that can't be secured outside must come inside!
• Consider purchasing a generator.

Storm is coming!

• Listen for updates and information from the National Weather Service & FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN!
• Secure items outside and bring in anything that cannot be tied down.
• Close hurricane shutters and doors, or place plywood over the windows and doors.
• In case the power goes out, turn your refrigerator and freezer all the way up and try to open them as little as possible. This way, if the power does go out, your food will stay cooler for longer.
• Make sure your car's gas tank is full.
• Unplug all the small appliances and shut off the propane tank, if you have one.
• Fill the bath tub and other containers with water, so that you have water to flush the toilet, or to wash with.
• Review your communications plan, and ready your emergency kit!
• Consider evacuation if:
• the authorities tell you to leave the area.
• you live in a mobile home, or other unstable structure.
• you live above the 10th floor of a building.
• you live in an area prone to flooding, such as the coast or a flood plain.

Storm is here!

• If you didn't evacuate:
• Stay inside and away from windows and doors!
• Close the doors INSIDE your home!
• Like with a tornado, stay in an interior room on the lowest floor of the home and take cover under a sturdy object like a table.
• Try not to use your phone, unless it's an emergency, of course.
• Be on the alert for tornadoes. As we learned in my post, Let's Talk Hurricanes..., the spiral rain bands can spawn tornadoes.
• Don't be fooled by the eye of the storm! It may seem like it's over, but it's not. Once the eye passes the hurricane winds will come back at full force!

After the storm

• Keep listening, or watching, for weather reports and updates.
• Be on the alert for possible flooding even after the storm has passed.
• If you evacuated, don't return until an official has told you it is safe to do so.
• Try to stay off the roads, but if you must drive go slow and avoid flooded or washed out roads and bridges.
• Keep a look out for downed power lines. If spotted, stay away from them and report them to the power company.
• Take pictures of any damages to your home or belongings, for insurance purposes.
• If the power is out use flashlights, DO NOT USE CANDLES. (This is a new one for me! We always lit candles when I was a kid, but then again we had bad snowstorms, not hurricanes.)
• Don't drink the water until you know that it is safe.
• Throw out any spoiled food, and remember, better safe than sorry. Trust me, not much is worse than food poisoning!
• Again, stay off the phone.
• Make sure you be careful, and protect your pets!

Feel free to check out all three websites that I used, for more information. Hurricane season is coming, so we might as well start getting ready!

Thanks for reading and be safe!

Let's Talk Hurricanes...

Well, there is less than a month left before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. The season begins June 1st and ends November 30th. There is already a lot of talk about what this season will have in store for us.

The last couple years have been tough for those of us on the East Coast with Hurricane Irene and Sandy. Down south in Texas, Hurricane Ike in 2008 made landfall and wreaked havoc across the Midwest. I am sure we all remember Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I live nowhere near New Orleans, I haven't even been there before, but I know I will always remember that storm and the devastation it caused.

There is so much to discuss when it comes to hurricanes. What are they and how do they form? How does that category system work? Who names them?

How bad will the 2013 hurricane season be?

I will try to answer all these questions, so be prepared for a longer blog post than my usual!

So, let's start at the beginning, how hurricanes form. According to one site I found helpful, these storms always start over the ocean. This is also where they gather their strength. The water temperature at the surface has to be at least 79 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to get the circular motion of a hurricane the Coriolis Effect has to take place.

At first, the Coriolis Effect confused me but then I watched the video below. Basically, the spinning of the Earth causes the wind to curve. Wind travels from high pressure areas to low pressure areas. It would do this in a straight line, but since the Earth is rotating, it causes the wind to curve to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.



NASA explains that these winds need to stay pretty stable as they rise higher into the atmosphere. The winds need to remain at a pretty consistent speed and direction. If they start to change speeds or directions as they rise higher and higher, the winds "can rip storms apart".

NASA's SpacePlace expands on the process a bit. The moisture-filled warm air over the surface of the ocean starts to rise. There is now less air above the ocean, so this becomes an area of low pressure. High pressure likes to move into areas of low pressure, so it swoops down and adds more air above the ocean. The new air starts to heat and rise like the air before it, allowing more of the high pressure air to swoop in. The cycle continues.

All that warm air rises up and up eventually cools and forms clouds. More and more clouds form and the winds start blowing in a circular motion because of the Coriolis Effect. The clouds and wind create that tell-tale hurricane shape.

Below is a picture that shows areas where conditions are often perfect for storms to form and grow. They tend to start at the base of the white lines and then travel toward the arrows.

Places where conditions are right for hurricane formation.

So, out in the ocean we have a stretch of nice warm water. Storm clouds start building, causing a tropical disturbance. As the storm builds bigger and bigger, the winds start rotating faster and faster, the thunderstorm becomes a tropical depression with winds up to 38 miles per hour (mph).

If the winds continue to build and reach 39 mph it then becomes a tropical storm. Once the winds hit 74 mph it becomes a hurricane. It's all about the speed of the wind.

As the winds move faster the storm becomes more defined as illustrated in the picture below.

Picture from NASA's archives

Ok, now that we know how hurricanes form let's take a look at the different parts of the storm. We will work from the inside out.

parts of a hurricane

In the center of the storm is the eye. When you look at pictures of hurricanes it looks like a hole. In the eye there are little to no clouds and only light winds. This area is created by the air at the center sinking down and tends to be about 12 to 40 miles wide. When the eye is very visible and clearly defined it means this is a strong storm, or one that is growing stronger. If the eye is weak, or less defined, the storm is probably weak or weakening. An eye that is hard to find could also mean that it is covered by clouds, which may lead a person to think that it is a weak storm when it is actually a strong storm.

Pictures from University Corporation for Atmospheric 

Research - Hurricane Features

Another image from UCAR - Hurricane Features

The next part is the eye wall. The wall consists of the strongest thunderstorms that rotate around the eye. This is where you will find the heaviest winds.

The third part of the storm are the spiral rain bands. The rain bands are clouds that extend (spiral) out from the eye wall for up to 300 kilometers, or almost 200 miles, and make up the bulk of the hurricane. These bands are storms that cause lightning and tornadoes.

Finally, the last part of the storm is the rain shield. ThinkQuest explains that the rain shield are areas of intense rain in the storm that are solid, or almost solid. The closer you get to the eye the stronger the rains.

The rain shield provides the majority of the rains, and the spiral rain bands bring the lightning and tornadoes.

Got it?

A friend asked me the other day to also explain the difference between hurricanes and typhoons. The only difference is where you live! UCAR explains that,

In North America, we call a storm that results from these conditions a hurricane. In other parts of the world, a hurricane is known by other names, including "typhoon" in the Western North Pacific and "tropical cyclone" in the Indian Ocean and the Western South Pacific.

Alright, so now we know how these storms form and the different parts that make up the storm. But, how do they get their names?

Sometimes there is more than one hurricane in existence at a time, often in different stages of development. Names help distinguish between the storms.

Jennie Cohen, of the History Channel, explains in her article, Why Do Hurricanes Have Names?, that people were naming storms in the 1900's by describing that storm. She gives the following examples, "the Great Hurricane of 1722, the Galveston Storm of 1900, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and the Big Blow of 1913".

Then in the late 1900's an Australian weatherman, Clement Wragge, started naming storms using "the Greek alphabet and characters from Greek and Roman mythology". He then switched to using the names of politicians he didn't really care for. This, not surprisingly, didn't catch on.

Then the U.S. Navy started to name the storms after wives and girlfriends back home during World War II. This then changed to storms being named using the military alphabet. Since, there are only 26 letters in the alphabet the National Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) ran out of names.

Character	Alphabet	Pronunciation	Character	Alphabet	Pronunciation
A	Alpha	Al fah	N	November	No vem ber
B	Bravo	Brah voh	O	Oscar	Oss cah
C	Charlie	Char lee	P	Papa	Pah pah
D	Delta	Dell tah	Q	Quebec	Keh beck
E	Echo	Eck oh	R	Romeo	Row me oh
F	Foxtrot	Foks trot	S	Sierra	See air rah
G	Golf	Golf	T	Tango	Tang go
H	Hotel	Hoh tell	U	Uniform	You nee form
I	India	In dee ah	V	Victor	Vik tah
J	Juliet	Jew lee ett	W	Whiskey	Wiss key
K	Kilo	Key loh	X	X-Ray	Ecks ray
L	Lima	Lee mah	Y	Yankee	Yang key
M	Mike	Mike	Z	Zulu	Zoo loo

In 1954, the NWS started giving the storms women's names. Other countries followed suit, because at that time the U.S. was the leader in tracking storms.

Enter the women's rights movement. In the early 1970's famous activist, Roxcy Bolton, spoke against the NWS' system, stating 'women are not disasters, destroying life and communities and leaving a lasting and devastating effect'.

A few years later the system of two lists, one of men's names and one of women's names, were developed and are rotated year to year. Today, we have six lists for Atlantic storms that are rotated. There are other lists for other parts of the world too.

When a storm is notably destructive, like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew, those names are "retired" and taken off of the rotation. Below are the names for the next six years, supplied by The National Hurricane Center (NOAA):

2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Andrea Barry Chantal Dorian Erin Fernand Gabrielle Humberto Ingrid Jerry Karen Lorenzo Melissa Nestor Olga Pablo Rebekah Sebastien Tanya Van Wendy	Arthur      Bertha      Cristobal      Dolly      Edouard      Fay      Gonzalo      Hanna       Isaias      Josephine      Kyle      Laura      Marco      Nana      Omar      Paulette      Rene      Sally      Teddy      Vicky      Wilfred	Ana      Bill      Claudette      Danny      Erika      Fred      Grace      Henri      Ida      Joaquin      Kate      Larry      Mindy      Nicholas      Odette      Peter      Rose      Sam      Teresa      Victor      Wanda	Alex      Bonnie      Colin      Danielle      Earl      Fiona      Gaston      Hermine      Ian      Julia      Karl      Lisa      Matthew      Nicole      Otto      Paula      Richard      Shary      Tobias      Virginie      Walter	Arlene      Bret      Cindy      Don      Emily      Franklin      Gert      Harvey      Irma      Jose      Katia      Lee      Maria      Nate      Ophelia      Philippe      Rina      Sean      Tammy      Vince      Whitney	Alberto      Beryl      Chris      Debby      Ernesto      Florence      Gordon      Helene      Isaac      Joyce      Kirk      Leslie      Michael      Nadine      Oscar      Patty      Rafael      Sara      Tony      Valerie      William

As you can see, names like Irene and Sandy are no longer in the rotation. When a name is retired, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) decides what name to add to the list.

I am still waiting for Hurricane Nyssa...

Now, let's talk about the different categories of hurricanes and the damage that they cause. Like I mentioned above, the rating system, Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale, uses wind speed to rate storms on a scale of 1 to 5. The links under the Damage column below will take you to the UCAR COMET description of the damages caused by each category. I am also going to provide this information below, after the chart.

Category	Wind Speed  km/hr         mi/hr	Storm Surge   m          ft	Damage
1	119-154      74-95	1-2       4-5	Minimal
2	155-178      96-110	2-3       6-8	Moderate
3	179-210     111-130	3-4       9-12	Extensive
4	211-250     131-155	4-6      13-18	Extreme
5	>250          >155	>6       >18	Catastrophic

Here are the descriptions of each damage category from the National Hurricane Center, which is part of The National Weather Center, which is in turn part of NOAA.

• Category 1 - Very dangerous winds will produce some damage: Well-constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding and gutters. Large branches of trees will snap and shallowly rooted trees may be toppled. Extensive damage to power lines and poles likely will result in power outages that could last a few to several days.

Category 2 - Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage: Well-constructed frame homes could sustain major roof and siding damage. Many shallowly rooted trees will be snapped or uprooted and block numerous roads. Near-total power loss is expected with outages that could last from several days to weeks.

• Category 3 - Devastating damage will occur: Well-built framed homes may incur major damage or removal of roof, decking and gable ends. Many trees will be snapped or uprooted, blocking numerous roads. Electricity and water will be unavailable for several days to weeks after the storm passes.  

• Category 4 - Catastrophic damage will occur: Well-built framed homes can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls. Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

• Category 5 - Catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

While wind is very dangerous it is not the only damaging aspect of a hurricane. As the storm approaches the coast from over the ocean, it is pushing ocean water along with it. This "mound" of water is storm surge. Storm surge is what causes most the major flooding and damage on the coast. Different types of coasts are affected differently. The UCAR site has a great graphic to demonstrate the difference.

The graphic on the left shows what happens with a shallow coastline. This is coastline with those nice beaches we all enjoy, like the Jersey Shore and the Gulf Coast. As you can see the water continues moving up onto the beach and spreads out.

The graphic on the right demonstrates storm surge with a deep coastline. Coastline like this can be found in areas of New England. The surge rises up, but not always over, the top of the coast line. The water disperses back into the ocean instead of spreading out along ground. 

Gulf Coast vs New England Coast

Other factors play a role in storm surge, like the moon, which played a large role in Hurricane Sandy. 

Lastly, let's take a look at five predictions for the Atlantic 2013 hurricane season. Once the season is over, I plan to come back and review these predictions in an end-of-the-season post.

1. Meteorologists from Colorado State University, Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray 
    - Season should be very active.
    - Chances of a major hurricane (category 3 or above) landing on the U.S. coast are above average at     72 percent.
    - Predicting "18 named storms, nine hurricanes, and four major hurricanes".*
2. WeatherBell Analytics (a meteorological consulting firm)
    - Season will be normal to above normal.
    - Predicting 16 named storms, 12 hurricanes, and five major hurricanes.*
3. North Carolina State University's Coastal Fluid Dynamics Lab
    - Season will be above average.
    - Predicting 19 to 28 named storms, 10 to 15 hurricanes, and four to nine major hurricanes.*
4. The Weather Channel - Hurricane Central
    - Season will be active and above average.
    - Predicting 16 named storms, nine hurricanes, and five major hurricanes.
5. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center  - Accuweather
    - Season will be above normal.
    - Predicting 12 to 18 named storms, six to ten hurricanes, and three to six major hurricanes.
    

*This is in contrast to an average season of "12 named storms, 6.5 hurricanes, and two major hurricanes." 

One thing to note about the predicted number of storms, it doesn't mean all of them will hit land! We may see 15 hurricanes but with only one actually affecting us!

The scientists may be predicting how many storms will form, but they can't predict exactly where they will form or the paths they may take.

How do meteorologists come up with these predictions? Good question!

They consider data from past years, weather phenomena like El Nino, and other factors.  According to The Weather Channel, one such factor is the rising temperature of the surface water in the Atlantic ocean. We already learned that hurricanes loooooove warm water!

On the other hand, El Nino can actually lessen the severity of the hurricane season. El Nino is a weather event that I will cover in more detail in another post. For now, what we need to know is that El Nino brings cooler temperatures (bad for hurricanes) and strong wind shear (also bad for hurricanes!).

That being said, it doesn't look like El Nino will be happening this year...

Any way, with the consensus being that hurricane season 2013 will be above average we should all prepare for these storms. Since this post is already quite lengthy (a huge thank you to those of you who made it this far!) I will discuss hurricane preparedness in a separate post.

While I, personally, agree with the experts that this will be a very active season, I also hope that we don't see many of the storms make landfall.

We will see...

The 100 Year Flood

With the intense storms and flooding that have been experienced lately people are talking more about 100 year events. There are other number events too, such as 10 year, 50 year, and 500 year events. These events can be floods or storms, like a 100 year flood.

I first heard these terms a couple years ago while taking an emergency management course. We were talking about flooding at the time. We learned in class that the number, 100, 50, etc, actually refers to the statistical chance that the event will occur every year. So, a 100 year flood means that every year there is a 1 in a hundred, or 1%, chance that a large scale flooding event will occur. If there is a 1 in a hundred chance that the flood might occur, then one should happen about every 100 years. I found a great image, see below, that helps illustrate the water levels and occurrences of the different events.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources

According to FEMA in their handout titled The 100 Year Flood Myth all different levels of flooding occur and can come with their own label. Lesser floods will most likely occur more often and be labeled 1 year floods or 5 year floods. As the floods grow in intensity the likely-hood of them occurring decreases. So, a 50 year flood won't be as bad as a 100 year flood but is twice as likely to occur. However, the handout points out that floods occurring every couple years, or even every ten years, will end up doing more damage then a flood that occurs only once every 100 years.

The other interesting point made in the handout is that the term 100 year flood is being used more frequently than it should. Not every flood is a 100 year flood! The term sounds good, and catches peoples attention, so the press like to use it. It may seem like 100 year floods are occurring more than they should, but that is most likely due to the floods being mislabeled.

By using the term “100 year flood” inaccurately to describe
floods that are actually much lesser floods, the misconception is
spread that 100 year floods are occurring every few years! In
fact, floods close to this are occurring, but they are only 5 or 10
year events that look so similar to the “big one” that they get
labeled with the same name. This misapplication of the 100 year
term leads to misplaced criticism of the analysis that produced it
and of those engineers who generated it.

Floods are very important to understand, as they can cause a lot of damage. I know people who live by me don't expect flooding and are not prepared for it. I certainly am not. 

When Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey and New York we were horrified, and still are, at the devastation that the flood waters caused.

PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy Wipes Out Seaside Heights

Here's The Jersey Shore Devastation That Made
Chris Christie Get So Emotional

I remember seeing the damage that Hurricane Irene caused in Vermont. It was horrible. 

Who would have imagined that flooding in Vermont? 

Massive snowstorms, sure. 

Ice storms... remember the Ice Storm of '98? 

I sure do. But flooding? 

From Waterbury to Wilmington,
Vermonters shocked by Irene's destruction

Photos from The Republican

Flooding always seemed an event reserved for people living by the Mississippi River, in Florida, or New Orleans. The Northeast sure got a rude awakening. 

With climate change leading to more intense storms, will there end up being an adjustment to the 100 year floods?

It is definitely something worth watching.

There is a lot more to discuss about flood waters and flood safety. I might even take a look at flood insurance. So check back soon for more information on this topic!

Is It Getting Warm In Here?

Climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, polar ice caps melting... these are all buzz words that we hear tossed around. But what do they mean? Is the climate really changing?

This is is really an extensive topic. There are people who believe that climate change is real, its not good, and we are the cause.  There are people that think the whole thing is a hoax, that its not that big of a deal. Then there are people who may concede that the climate is heating up, but are hesitant to blame it on people.

Let's start with the, "climate change is real and happening", argument. According to the EPA, "Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years".

Oh wow, a couple degrees warmer! That doesn't sound like very much, why is it so important? I mean sure that video up there shows things have heated up, but its still pretty cold in the arctic! And, its still snowing in the north; pretty sure Winter Storm Nemo proved that one...

Well, first the rising of 1.4°F is an average. In some areas, like the arctic regions, that number is actually higher. Second, while we may not think a couple of degrees makes a difference, Mother Nature doesn't agree. Animals such as penguins and butterflies are feeling the effects. National Geographic reports that the number of Adélie penguins have declined.

Say whaaaat?

Species of foxes, butterflies, and arctic plants have been found farther and farther north, trying to find cooler weather. There are some species that are enjoying the warmer weather like the Spruce Bark Beetle. (I was going to post a picture of these, but yuck! If bugs don't give you the heebie-jeebies then go ahead and do a Google Image search, have fun.) These beetles have had a huge increase in numbers and are destroying forests in Alaska.

Animals aren't the only ones feeling the change.  The weather is starting to make a statement too.  In 2008, National Geographic released an article, Strong Hurricanes Getting Stronger; Warming Is Blamed.  Warmer ocean temperatures means stronger hurricanes.  Some scientists believe that climate change is the cause of the warmer temperatures and nastier hurricanes, while others say this is "a natural storm cycle".  But, with a naturally cooler North Atlantic ocean with its typically weak hurricanes, now flinging much stronger storms at the East Coast, it does make you wonder...

According to a nyc.gov hazards web page:

Many hurricane experts say the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico have begun to spin off more frequent and destructive hurricanes than in previous decades. Tropical storms have been on the rise since 1995, and a record 15 hurricanes made their way into the North Atlantic in 2005.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is also concerned.  Heat waves can be extremely dangerous, like the heat wave in Australia early this year that was so extreme, "Australia weather forecasters had to add a new color to their heat maps to show temperatures between 123 and 129 degrees."  (That link leads to a great article, check it out.)

Extreme heat can lead to dehydration, and even trouble breathing for people who have asthma and other respiratory conditions.

The WHO also predicts a rise in sea levels and more extreme storms that will cause people to move away from the coast and other low-lying areas.  This can lead to, "the risk of a range of health effects, from mental disorders to communicable diseases".  The water supply may be affected by drought and changes in when we get rain or snow and how much we get. People don't always realize that a snow-less winter can lead to drought conditions in the summer. Flooding will occur more often in some areas, which can contaminate drinking water, cause injury and death, and even cause an increase in mosquitoes.

Not only are mosquitoes incredibly annoying, but they can also carry diseases such as West Nile Virus.  With the higher temperatures and increase in insect activity, we will continue to see more and more of these viruses, like West Nile and Malaria, over here in the United States.

And the list of changes goes on! I could keep writing this for hours and have the longest blog post EVER! But, I think its about time to wrap this up before I put you to sleep and you have a nightmare.  There is so much more to cover on this topic and I will get there.

Next I want to take a break from all this info, and review a great book on the topic by Dr. Heidi Cullen.

From there we will take a look at the other side of the climate argument and see what other people are
saying on the topic.

I know this is a disturbing issue and some people have strong opinions about it. I urge you to keep an open mind, consider both sides of the argument, and draw your own conclusions... so come back soon!