Powerhouses of Nature
The storm raged around our house and the power was out. The wind howled eerily, thrumming tree branches and phone lines, penetrating small chinks in windows and doors. My father made a fire in our rarely used fireplace for heat and my mother lit her decorative kerosene lamps so we could see. The crashing and thrashing outside made my brother and I nervous. How long would this storm go on? My father said we should think of this as camping out. We made our dinner and popped corn in the fireplace and told stories around it. I didn’t understand why my parents said that we would sleep on the hard living room floor, near the fireplace rather than in our comfortable beds, other than it sustained the camping theme.
The next morning, I did. During the night, the hurricane toppled a huge old sugar maple tree, nearly missing our house. Nearly missing the bedroom where my brother and I slept. My father assured us that this was a very rare event and would probably never happen again in our lives. Then next year, next hurricane season, it happened again. And the other maple tree on our lot fell. Again, just missing our house, thankfully.
Where, I wondered, did violent hurricanes get all their ferocious energy? Later on, I learned that the secret lies beneath the surface – literally. The warm waters of our vast oceans are the fuel for these awe-inspiring, yet destructive, natural phenomena.
Every hurricane starts its journey as a simple low-pressure system over the ocean. The key ingredient for this system to grow into a hurricane is warm ocean water, ideally above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The warmer the water, the more energy it provides for the growing storm. This heat from the water transforms into the mechanical energy of the hurricane’s winds, effectively turning a hurricane into a gigantic heat engine.
As the warm, moist air above the ocean surface rises, it creates an area of low pressure beneath it. This causes more air to rush in, which then also gets warmed and continues the cycle. This process causes the storm to grow and intensify. The spinning effect of the storm is because of the Earth’s rotation, a phenomenon known as the Coriolis effect, as discussed before.
But what gives hurricanes their destructive power? The answer lies in the intense winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surge they bring along. The average hurricane has an eye (the calm center of the storm) that’s 20 to 30 miles wide, and in the most powerful storms, the wind speeds can exceed 155 miles an hour.
However, it’s not just the wind that’s dangerous. The storm surge, an enormous bulge of water pushed by the hurricane’s winds, is often the deadliest aspect. It’s like a tsunami, but it’s generated by hurricanes instead of earthquakes. When a storm surge hits the coast, it can cause severe flooding and damage, as we saw in Hurricane Katrina.
Another major hazard is flash flooding caused by intense rainfall. Hurricanes can unload enormous amounts of rain, leading to sudden and destructive floods. Hurricane Mitch in 1998, for example, killed 12,000 people, primarily due to flash flooding.
Hurricanes are called by different names depending on where they occur. In the Atlantic and northern Pacific, they’re known as hurricanes, but in the northwestern Pacific, they’re called typhoons. Regardless of the name, any storm must reach wind speeds of at least 74 miles an hour to be classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone.
Climate change is also affecting hurricanes, making them more destructive. Scientists expect climate change will produce more hurricanes with more rain, flooding, and stronger storm surges.
Meteorologists expect the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season to be near average, with 12 to 17 named storms predicted. These predictions are based on factors like ocean temperatures and wind patterns. However, these are just predictions, not certainty. Although my father had many talents, he was not a great weather forecaster.
Now I understand more about the incredible process that gives these storms their power. From warm ocean waters to the Earth’s rotation, a lot goes into creating these awe-inspiring, yet destructive, forces of nature. With climate change amping the energy in our oceans, we can expect more hurricanes and stronger hurricanes. As always, we should be prepared for the unexpected and keep our flashlight batteries fresh.