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#1
September 14th, 2005, 11:41 PM
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Hurricanes and tornadoes
How would you define the exact area in the US where a hurricane could
hit; and where a tornado could hit? When I say "could hit" let us define it as meaning one has hit in the last 110 years. I don't want to say 100 as that would leave out Galveston. Is Hawaii free of natural disasters? It has a volcano but it mostly just sits there. 
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#2
September 15th, 2005, 12:48 AM
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#3
September 15th, 2005, 01:33 AM
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How would you define the exact area in the US where a hurricane could hit; and where a tornado could hit? Tornadoes have been reported in every state of the Union except Alaska, and in many parts of the worlds besides the US. As a practical matter, the risk is small and the tornadoes usually weaker west of the Rockies, due to the combination of weather conditions needed to most often produce them. See for instance http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/NWSTornado/ and in particular http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/NWSTornado/pic14.jpg as well as this map showing the occurrence of powerful (F3 and above) tornadoes over the last few decades: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/fima/fema431_ch1.pdf An Atlantic hurricane per se making landfall is rather more delimitable. However, it is important to note that something that's no longer technically a hurricane can still penetrate far inland or even across the Atlantic as a more or less organized storm system with dangerous winds and a lot of rain (says the National Hurricane Center: "A large portion of the damage in four of the fifteen costliest tropical cyclones resulted from inland flooding caused by torrential rain.") I've been in a pair of hurricanes that were Category 3 at landfall and can attest that they were still rather daunting 100-150 miles inland. See for instance http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feature...ne_cycle.shtml and http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/paststate.shtml Is Hawaii free of natural disasters? It has a volcano The Hawaiian Islands are more accurately described as *being* volcanoes, three of them considered active and several more classed as dormant rather than outright extinct. The islands owe their existence to volcanism. This is an example of an island arc thought to represent the travel of the crust over a relatively fixed hot-spot in the mantle. See for instance http://gohawaii.about.com/cs/volcano..._lava_flow.htm http://www.nps.gov/havo/ http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/haw_volc.html They got a hurricane just a few years ago, as they do from time to time, and various islands have occasionally experienced tsunamis, volcanically related earthquakes, floods, and other problems. See http://www.mothernature-hawaii.com/
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#4
September 15th, 2005, 02:55 AM
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#6
September 15th, 2005, 04:53 AM
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#7
September 15th, 2005, 06:21 AM
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I suspect that every location on the Gulf & Atlantic coasts of the US
has had hurricane damage in the last 100 years. Certainly everywhere short of Boston and I think everywhere north of there. BTW Galveston has had many storms since the 1900 one. wrote: How would you define the exact area in the US where a hurricane could hit; and where a tornado could hit? When I say "could hit" let us define it as meaning one has hit in the last 110 years. I don't want to say 100 as that would leave out Galveston. Is Hawaii free of natural disasters? It has a volcano but it mostly just sits there. The Hawaiian islands are all the result of a volcano that now sits under the big island. In any case their coasts are all subject to tropical cyclones (hurricanes) and they get tsunamis as well. Perhaps the north coast of Alaska would be free of natural disasters. Unless you include a normal winter.
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#8
September 15th, 2005, 05:31 PM
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#9
September 15th, 2005, 06:30 PM
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PeterL wrote: wrote: How would you define the exact area in the US where a hurricane could hit; and where a tornado could hit? Only as a terminology issue. It's simply that tropical cyclones go under different names in different areas. That said, the term in the Hawaii area is Pacific Hurricane. Katrina should be called an Atlantic Hurricane. Hurricanes are mostly southesthern coastal phenomenons. A tornado could hit just about anywhere, but mostly along the "tornado alley". When I say "could hit" let us define it as meaning one has hit in the last 110 years. I don't want to say 100 as that would leave out Galveston. Is Hawaii free of natural disasters? It has a volcano but it mostly just sits there. Hawaii is not free of natural disasters. There are Pacific storms. Volcanos mostly just sit there until it erupts. Mt. St. Helens just sat there until one day... Being free of natural disasters is a relative term.
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#10
September 15th, 2005, 08:44 PM
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On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 17:30:27 GMT, "Frank F. Matthews"
wrote: PeterL wrote: wrote: How would you define the exact area in the US where a hurricane could hit; and where a tornado could hit? Only as a terminology issue. It's simply that tropical cyclones go under different names in different areas. That said, the term in the Hawaii area is Pacific Hurricane. Katrina should be called an Atlantic Hurricane. And when the context requires that distinction those terms are usually used. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
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