Hurricane Alert!

The National Weather Service has announced a hurricane!

Hey kids, if you heard this emergency report on TV or the radio, would you be concerned?

Would you be alarmed?

What would you do?

Would you know what to do?

Today we're talking about the severe weather phenomenon.

You know, a giant swirling storm accompanied by severe thunderstorms with sustained winds of at least 74 miles per hour.

The event we call a hurricane.

This kind of storm is known as a typhoon in the Northwest Pacific and called a cyclone in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

These severe storms go by different names around the world.

Each one gets its own name.

Have you ever been in a hurricane?

Have you ever experienced being in a heavy rainstorm with thunder and lightning?

Were you scared?

It's okay to be scared in a storm.

Severe weather scares us all because it's so unpredictable.

Let's learn about how hurricanes are formed.

A hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere generally boils up between the months of June and November.

As tropical seawater is heated by the sun, this warming air rises into the atmosphere forming rain clouds.

While down below the warm air is replaced with cooler air which is warmed and rises.

It's like a cycle and the cycle repeats over again as long as there is a supply of warm seawater.

As the clouds cool, rains fall and winds develop.

The earth as it rotates causes the storm to spin and if the resulting circulating winds reach 39 miles per hour, the storm becomes a tropical depression and the storm gets a name.

Tropical storms are tracked very closely by radar until they peter out and die.

But if they gain more energy from warm waters, they grow and grow and if the sustained wind speed reaches 74 miles per hour, BAM!

A hurricane is born.

These massive storms can reach 50,000 feet high and spread out 125 miles in diameter.

A hurricane with a name may wander aimlessly out at sea.

In the Northern Hemisphere, they rotate counterclockwise.

In the Southern Hemisphere, they rotate clockwise.

Look at the center of the hurricane in this satellite imagery.

Can you see the eye of the hurricane?

The eye of the hurricane is calm and peaceful and the skies are clear.

In the eye, you might think the storm is over.

Oh, but it's not over.

It's about to get worse.

The eye wall is where the winds are the fastest and the strongest.

We may know a lot about hurricanes, but we still don't know enough.

It takes the courageous men and women of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help us learn more.

Flying aboard the two powerful Lockheed P-3 Orion airplanes, also known as Kermit and Miss Piggy, these brave scientists called hurricane hunters fly into the hurricane.

Yep, they fly in and out of the storm and even through the eye.

With special instruments, they collect data to help us learn more about hurricanes.

Wow, that's incredible.

Thanks, NOAA.

Hopefully, a hurricane dies at sea, but it may wander toward land.

Watches and warnings go out to entire regions and states, asking the people to prepare for the coming storm.

They may have to leave their homes.

A list of names has been established, and they are used on a six-year rotation.

It's important to name these violent storms to avoid confusion.

That way, they can be followed.

Boys' names and girls' names are used alternately in alphabetical order.

And if a hurricane has been especially destructive and loss of force, Hurricane Warning is used to grade the intensity of a hurricane.

Let's look at the categories.

Category 1.

Winds are clocked between 74 and 95 mph and may result in some damage.

A Category 2 storm has winds at 96 to 110 mph, and the damage can be expected to be extensive.

Category 3 hurricanes are extremely dangerous, and with winds measured from 111 to 129 mph, the damage will be devastating.

You can expect extreme damage from a Category 4 hurricane, with winds reaching 156 mph.

And with a Category 5 hurricane, the damage is catastrophic, with winds exceeding 157 mph.

On September 20, 2017, a Category 5 hurricane struck the island of Puerto Rico.

The damage and loss of life has been devastating.

All 3.4 million residents were plunged into a deep crisis.

This hurricane was named Maria, and it affected many of the islands of the Caribbean.

It will take years for them to recover.

Destruction is not only caused from high winds of a hurricane, but also from the tremendous amount of water that comes with it, bringing massive and widespread flooding.

The most important thing to do when a hurricane is approaching is to evacuate.

Often, local governments have emergency areas to evacuate to and provide shelter until the storm passes.

In the year 1900, the unnamed hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas was the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, killing between 6,000 and 12,000 people.

Other hurricanes of recent years, which have also left a path of widespread destruction, are Andrew of 1992, which pummeled South Florida and Louisiana.

In 2005, Hurricanes Wilma, Rita, and Katrina bowled through the Atlantic Basin, and with a 1-2-3 punch, showed little mercy.

And in October of 2018, Hurricane Michael, the first Category 5 hurricane since it hit the island of Andrew, smashed into the Florida Panhandle.

This storm also affected Central America, parts of Mexico and Cuba, and there were billions and billions of dollars in losses to homes and businesses and to roads and bridges.

Hurricane Michael was devastating.

Although a hurricane begins to lose energy as it makes landfall, the size and strength of even a weakening storm is still enough to cause a lot of grief.

Severe tornadoes are also a by-product of weakening hurricanes.

What would you do if you heard the hurricane warning go out?

Would you be prepared?

And would you be willing to help the countless people and their pets harshly affected by these unforgiving spectacles of nature?

If you should ever be in the path of a hurricane, don't panic.

Follow the instructions of your local emergency response team and be safe.

Be prepared.

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