Hurricanes and Tropical Storms
Tropical storms and hurricanes are easily tracked and characteristically have as long an advance warning period as any weather system. However, their intensity, and speed and direction of motion can quickly change.
According to Stu Ostro, a Senior Weather Specialist at The Weather Channel, the North Atlantic Ocean has recently been in a period of increased tropical activity.
During the period from 1995 through 1998, there were 33 hurricanes in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, the most on record in a four-year period.
Do you know the difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane?
Where do tropical storms and hurricanes form? Most that affect the United States originate as tropical disturbances over the tropical or subtropical Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, or the Gulf of Mexico. These disturbances build strength when the right set of atmospheric conditions are present.
Tropical storms and hurricanes also form over the eastern Pacific Ocean, and sometimes their remnants reach the southwestern United States.
Information gathered from Weather.com
Tornado | Hurricane/Tropical Storm | Flood | Lightening | Earthquake
