| Over on the East Coast of Africa, the
winds flow our way (that's WEST.) So storms come from there. But then they turn into BIG
storms. See-- around this time of year the ocean is really
warm-- like 80 degrees or something. So if there's one thing hot air likes to do, it's
RISE. So it rises into the atmosphere where the air is colder. So |
Hurricane Andrew, 1992 - a HUGE hurricane that caused $26 BILLION in damage! |
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| this makes more wet rainy
storms. (Just take a can of cold soda out of the fridge on a hot, humid day. All that
watery, beady stuff--well, throw it up in the sky and you've got a STORM.) |
Hurricane Hugo, 1989
-view from space.
This storm is larger than all of Florida! |
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So these storm-lings keep traveling west,
sucking more hot air from the ocean and getting bigger and bigger until they're
MONGO-storms. They spin counter clock-wise (in our hemisphere)
around this hole in the center (the eye) and once the winds get up to 75 mph or more
BINGO, you've got a hurricane. Thing is, they kind of drag the ocean along with them.
It's not really |
| the wind that causes all the
problems in a hurricane, it's the "storm surge." When the hurricane comes
ashore, so does all that water. Then it's bye-bye Sarah's house. |