If tornadoes are nature’s fiercest storm, hurricanes are certainly its biggest. A large hurricane can carve a path of destruction dozens of miles wide and travel for thousands of miles. The most intense hurricanes can pack wind speeds of 200 miles per hour. They can flood coastal areas with 20-foot storm surges or dump massive amounts of rain further inland. Some of the most destructive hurricanes in recent years weren’t especially strong, but extremely wet, leading to massive flooding.
The one saving grace when it comes to hurricanes is that we can always see them coming well in advance, allowing people time to get out of the area where a hurricane is projected to hit. Unfortunately, there are still many people who fail to heed these warnings, either because they’re stubborn and don’t want to leave their home or because they lack the ability or resources to do so.
Information on hurricanes & hurricane safety
The information herein will help you better plan and prepare for hurricanes
H3: Common questions about hurricanes
When is hurricane season?
The hurricane season in the Atlantic runs from June through November, and produces an average of 12 named storms, 6 of which will become full-fledged hurricanes. Of these, half will grow into major hurricanes with wind speeds of 100 m.p.h or above. It’s possible for a hurricane to develop outside these months, but it’s fairly rare, and those that do form aren’t as intense as those that develop during peak season.
What’s the difference between a hurricane and typhoon?
They’re both essentially the same thing, except hurricanes form in the Northern hemisphere, typically over the Atlantic ocean. Typhoons form in the southern hemisphere over the Pacific ocean. Hurricanes spin clockwise; typhoons spin counterclockwise. Other than that they’re the same thing.
What’s the deadliest part of a hurricane?
Many people assume it’s the winds of a hurricane they most need to worry about, but it’s actually water that causes the most deaths. Storm surge floods people out of their home, and you don’t want to be treading floodwater in the middle of a hurricane, where conditions can be similar to a tsunami: fast-moving water filled with debris.
What is storm surge?
Hurricanes are powerful storms that whip up the seas, displacing the water beneath them. As a hurricane makes landfall, it will push this displaced water onto land in front of it, effectively raising the sea level by anywhere from 5 to 30 feet. Imagine holding a leaf blower over a kiddie pool filled to the brim with water. The turbulence will displace the water underneath, pushing it outward and creating a ring of raised water around the affected area. Now if you move this ‘storm’ from the center of the pool to the edge, this wall of elevated water is going to spill over the brim. This is essentially what happens when a hurricane makes landfall, and it leads to what we refer to as storm surge.