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Show . 'Greatest storm on Garth like heat engine inside windy, and predictable, hurricanes run by themselves, like heat huge engines spinning across the sea. Wet, un- Extracting heat energy from the warm ocean, hurricanes release it into the atmosphere. If conto , electrical verted the - energy energy, released by a single hurricane in one day would keep the United States supplied . with power for three years. As big as 500 miles or more in diameter and reaching almost 8 miles high, hurricanes are the greatest storms on earth. Their name comes from the Spanish and Caribbean Indian words for "big wind" and "evil spirit." hurricanes actually do, hurricane. the worst usually oc"We still don't know curring in August and exactly what triggers a; On the hurricane September. why, given favorable average, two or three apparently hurricanes strike the conditions, one storm North American develops and another mainland each season. said doesn't," At their fiercest Mark a meteorologist "catastrophic" number 5 Zimmer of the National n on the Hurricane in Center must classification scale which Miami, their wind speed exceeds monitor all of the 100 155 mph and the atdisturbances that form mospheric pressure in each season. "Our weakest point the eye drops drastically. n A hurricanes and the reason that in this century have rated hurricanes are almost a 5, among them: the 1935 impossible to predict is ' Labor Day storm that our inability to tell the whether or not a storm ripped through and Florida the will intensify Keys, strongest on record; this when. Once it does, we season's Allen, which have a reasonably good swept across the Carib- grip on tracking direction bean into Texas, the and speed." What scientists second strongest; and about ' what 1969's Camille, which know on inside a devastated the Mississipgoes most hurricane closely pi and Louisiana coasts. Although they have resembles the operation stalked the Atlantic of a heat engine or a fire almost region every year in a fireplace. At the sea since at least Columbus' surface, air heated by the time, hurricanes still baffle scientists. They create their own complicated environment that depends on the right blend of several key ingredients: , Saffir-Simpso- . , half-doze- Hurricanes can of' winds produce cyclonic 200 mph or more the most violent surround the relatively calm "eye" of the storm. They can cause coastal waters to swell as high as 25 feet above normal tide. They can travel long distances several thousand miles across water at speeds of up to SO mph. And they' have a long life expen-tanc- y proper temwater by atmospheric perature, warm moist standards: one to two air, and a good cirweeks.' culation system that lets In the Atlantic, Carib- air flow in at the bottom, bean, and Gulf of Mexico, and up and out at the top hurricanes in this century like smoke up a chimhave killed an estimated ney. 45,000 people, including Hurricanes begin more than 13,000 in the calmly enough. Most United States. Nine out of start as the summer sun 10 hurricane victims warms the tropical drown in water that is waters around the Cape swept ashore with the Verde Islands west of high winds. Six thousand Africa to at least 80 F. people died in Galveston, Waves of moist air drift Texas, in a storm in Sep- off the African coast. tember- 1900, the worst Trade winds blowing U.S. hurricane disaster. west are sustained by the Rivaled in size only by stable Bermuda high, a their western Pacific and mass of warm humid air Indian . Ocean counter- that straddles the North Jyphoons and, I Atlanticfend controls its parts " hurricanes weather in summer and cyclones have caused more than fall. Patches of concen$12 billion damage in the trated showers ride the United States alone since trades.' 1900. The costliest was across the Moving last season's $2.3 billion warm ocean, these diverHurricane Frederic. se forces mysteriously All of this destructive begin to organize themforce is concentrated in selves and steadily intenan average of six sify. Showers mature into hurricanes in a Air thunderstorms. around season, June through whirls November. Less than troughs. h of the some 100 When sustained winds tropical - disturbances reach 39 mph, the disturbecome bance is upgraded to a could that tropical storm and given ' a name as of last year either male or female. When wind velocity accelerates to at least 74 mph,' the tropical storm Family Center a officially becomes warm ocean rises, cools, condenses, and forms bands of thick clouds that release torrential rains. As the air rises and cools, it gives off heat, greatly reducing the atmospheric pressure at the center. At lower the when altitudes, the trade drops, pressure winds are propelled in a spiral pattern by the spin of the Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere they swirl in a counterclockwise or cyclonic direction. inward Air whips around the calm eye and is whirled upward. When it rises to about 40,000 feet, it vents the system, with high merging altitude winds. Now dry, some air is forced back down the center, creating the virtually cloud-fre-e eye, usually about 25 miles across. Wind speed picks up near the eye and is the in strongest the innermost "eyewall," band of clouds that is usually about 15 miles thick. It is here across this central 50 to 75 miles that the storm does its greatest damage. a The hurricane eye frequent metaphor for order in the midst of chaos apparently con- trols a storm's wind velocity. The smaller its diameter and the lower its pressure, the stronger the winds. Atmospheric pressure in Allen's center plunged to the second lowest level on record, 10 percent below normal pressure atmospheric and double the drop in the average hurricane. Low pressure in the eye is also the dominant force behind the storm surge that kills most hurricane victims. Beneath it the ocean surface rises, forming a dome of water 1 or 2 feet high. As the hurricane heads for land, wind drives more water onto the dome. This combination can produce waves 25 feet above normal tide if it hits a sloping shoreline. As it strikes land, a THE SENTINEL damage. Once over land cut off from its ocean power source it quickly runs out of steam. Fueled by the ocean's warmth, it is also doomed if it travels over cooler northern waters. For all their destructive elements, hurricanes do have their good points. d They bring rain to tropical islands. Thursday, December 11, 1980 aajri VJolcomol... tegt Sandy Baptist Church Phyllis Zagorcc GallBleauud 855-632- 2 Coratgra, Wedding FuntnU, Frth, SUk Dried arrangement Custom designing 6958 South 1700 We (North aide of Suk Savtagi BUg.) u nnnTirro heat ninriET 7793 SO. STATE. 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