hurricane

A hurricane is a wind of destructive force and duration when its speed reaches 30 meters per second. The cause of hurricanes is a large difference in atmospheric pressure at close range, which is most often associated with cyclones. Antillean hurricanes are especially terrible in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, they are frequent on the plains of the USA.
Hurricanes usually occur at the end of summer, when the sea and the air above it is warmest. The hot sun evaporates huge masses of water. Moist air rises quickly. The cooler air flowing into its place from the periphery begins to rotate, and a whirlwind appears, similar to a giant funnel. In its center, in the so-called " eye of the hurricane " with a diameter of up to 35 km, the vertical ascent of warmed air continues, but there it is completely calm, the sky is cloudless. Around the “eye”, storm winds rage with a deafening roar, the speed of which reaches 400 km / h. The width of the strip captured by the hurricane reaches 400-600 km.
Having reached the coast, the hurricane causes enormous damage: it uproots trees, destroys houses, distorts and knocks down power line masts, overturns and even lifts cars into the air. Not without human sacrifice. After a few days, such a hurricane leaves area where there is no longer that mass of warm, moist air that it needs to maintain its power.
The occurrence of hurricanes on the plains of North America is associated with the absence of mountain ranges there, which creates conditions for the penetration of Arctic air masses to the mainland from the north. They can spread to the Gulf of Mexico, and tropical air masses sometimes freely penetrate far to the north of the mainland. Large differences in temperature and pressure between these air masses create conditions for the formation of strong hurricane winds on the plains of the mainland. They arise unexpectedly and bring many disasters.
Now, with the help of aircraft observers, radars and artificial satellites, they track the path of the hurricane in order to warn the population of the regions in a timely manner, which it can threaten.
Back in 1806, English admiral Francis Beaufort proposed a 12-point wind scale, named after him the Beaufort scale. He subdivided winds according to the movement of air masses. Even with a force of 9 points, when the speed is from 20 to 24 m/s, the wind knocks down dilapidated buildings, tears roofs off houses. They call it a storm. If the wind speed reaches 32 m / s, they speak of it as a hurricane. Storms are most dangerous on the sea coasts and at the mouths of large rivers, because the storm drives huge waves of water. These ramparts flood the shores and destroy everything that the wind has spared. Europe is subject to storm and hurricane winds. In January 1953, fierce northerly winds blew through North Sea, preventing its waters from flowing into the ocean through the English Channel, and they accumulated off the coast of East Anglia and the Netherlands.
The sea level rose there 6 m above normal, the waves flooded the coastal plains, demolished many dams and bridges, flooded almost the entire south-west of the Netherlands. In England, port facilities, moorings, warehouses, residential buildings were broken, many cars were swept into the sea. In the Netherlands, 68,000 people lost their homes, 1,835 drowned. Nine years later, a similar disaster occurred in Germany. On the night of February 16-17, 1962, two phenomena independent of each other led to terrible consequences: a hurricane force of 11-12 points drove the waters of the North Sea ashore, and at the same time a flood began on the Elbe. River waters rushed back, their level rose by 6 m. They demolished dams, eroded embankments, flooded houses, streets, roads. Huge areas were under water. Thousands of people remained in the disaster zone, cut off by the flood.