Hurricanes and Tornadoes
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21 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 hurricane | dangerous storm with wind speeds of at least 119 km per hour |
| Hurricane Andrew | caused many deaths, damaged businesses and destroyed neighborhoods in Florida |
| tropical depression | when winds increase and begin to swirl up to 61 km per hour |
| tropical storm | needs a large area of warm ocean water and is stronger than a tropical depression with winds that are more than 61 km but less than 119 |
| atmosphere and ocean | two parts of earth's systems that produce a hurricane |
| hurricane eye | spot in the middle of the hurricane where winds are gentle and there is no rain |
| storm surge | water pushed ahead onto shore by the winds outside the eye wall of a hurricane |
| satellites, special planes, computer models | instruments used to track hurricanes |
| tornado | a rapidly spinning column of air that comes down out of a cloud and touches the ground, form over land |
| strong thunderstorms | where tornadoes form |
| vortex | an area where air or liquid spins,or spirals, in circles |
| dust devil | column of whirling air formed mostly in deserts |
| waterspout | rapidly spinning column of air over a lake or ocean |
| doppler radar | instrument used to detect things like the direction and speed of wind and the vortex of a tornado |
| Category 5 | greatest hurricane rating |
| Category 1 | weakest hurricane rating |
| size of a tornado | smaller than a hurricane |
| minutes | time a tornado might last |
| Fujita Scale | used to classify tornadoes |
| similarities of tornadoes and hurricanes | both are strong storms, have high winds and cause damage, spin at an area of low air pressure |
| differences of tornadoes and hurricanes | hurricane can be hundreds of km across, hurricanes have many thunderstorms, a tornado does not, hurricanes form over oceans, a tornado forms over land |
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