As they travel across land, they can dump several feet of rain. Once over land, the storms lose contact with the warm waters and begin to weaken. When these storms make landfall, they damage buildings and flood areas near shore with a wave of water called a storm surge. Warm currents there create loops of warm water that fuel storms. Storms that pass over the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico often intensify very rapidly. The most powerful hurricane to hit the United States had winds estimated at 190 miles per hour. Winds in this eyewall are always the fastest in the storm and cause the most damage. The winds around the calm, central eye of the storm get faster and faster. Storms that stay over warm, tropical waters intensify. Trade winds blow from east to west in the tropics, pushing the storm across the ocean toward land on the other side.ĭepending on how the storm travels, it may continue to grow or weaken. This creates the spinning tropical storm that we see on satellite images.
More warm water is added to the storm, causing more clouds to build, more rainfall, and faster winds.Įarth’s spin on its axis deflects those winds, causing them to move in a circle. As it grows, air pressure at the center of the storm continues to drop, which causes the vacuum in the middle to grow stronger. The storm sucks up that heat and water, which make the storm bigger. When the sea surface is at least 80° Fahrenheit (27° Celsius), it can supercharge a thunderstorm. The ocean surface is warm in the tropics-almost like bath water in certain places. In the tropics, when storms move out over the ocean, they can begin to grow into something much bigger. Thunderstorms can form anywhere there’s humidity and enough heat to cause air to rise. That air keeps feeding the vacuum, adding more water vapor to the growing clouds. This creates low pressure at the earth’s surface, like a vacuum, that draws in air from surrounding areas. When a thunderstorm forms, heat causes air to warm and expand. The ocean plays a huge role in how strong they eventually become. Many travel across entire oceans, gaining strength as they go. Tropical storms require warm ocean waters. Their powerful winds and heavy rains cause billions of dollars of damage each year. These massive storms stretch hundreds of miles across. Under the right conditions, some of those storms can grow into large tropical storms. Warm summer temperatures often bring thunderstorms.
0 kommentar(er)
