Hurricanes

You should look at each section of this webpage (Hurricane Impacts, Hurricane Structure, Hurricane Tracks in the Atlantic Ocean) while asking yourself questions about what you see in the videos, images and Google Earth overlays.

Once you have reviewed all the sections (Hurricane Impacts, Hurricane Structure, Hurricane Tracks in the Atlantic Ocean) use the final section (Hurricane Reference Guides) to answer six of your questions.

• What questions could you ask about the impact of hurricanes from watching these videos?
  • How do hurricanes cause damage?
  • How do hurricanes cause people to die?
  • What is a 'Category 5' hurricane?
    • What does a hurricane have to do to be a 'Category 5' hurricane?
    • How many categories are there?
    • What is the difference between the categories?
  • Why do hurricanes lose strength when they pass over land?

• What questions could you ask about the structure of hurricanes from looking at the image above?
  • What is the 'hole' in the middle of the hurricane?
    • What would it be like if you were standing in that 'hole'?
  • Why does the hurricane have a swirling pattern in its clouds?
  • How big are hurricanes?

• What questions could you ask about hurricane tracks from looking at the Google Earth overlays?
  • Why do most hurricanes seem to start near the equator?
  • Why do most of the hurricanes seem to have a 'banana' shaped track that takes them west and then northwards?