- Where are tornadoes most common in the United States?
- What is a cyclone? What are the two types of cyclone and how do they differ?
- Describe in detail how a hurricane forms.
- What level is the most damaging hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale? What sorts
of damage do you expect from such a strong hurricane? - What causes damage from hurricanes?
- What could have been done in New Orleans to lessen the damage and deaths from
Hurricane Katrina? - Do you think New Orleans should be rebuilt in its current location?
- Where do blizzards develop?
Vocabulary
cyclone Winds rotating around a low pressure center.
drought A situation in which there is less precipitation than normal for a matter of days,
weeks, or years.
lake-effect snow Extreme snowfall caused by the evaporation of relatively warm, moist
air into a cold front that then drops its snow on the leeward side of the lake.
lightning A huge discharge of electricity typical of thunderstorms.
hurricane Cyclones that form in the tropics and spin around a low-pressure center; they
can be the world’s most damaging storms.
mid-latitude cyclone A cyclone that forms in the middle latitudes at the polar front.
Nor’easter Mid-latitude cyclones that strike the northeastern United States.
storm surge A buildup of sea level due to wind blowing water up against the land and
water being sucked upward by low pressure.
thunder The loud clap produced by lightning.
thunderstorm Stormscausedbyupwellingairandcharacterizedbycumulonimbusclouds,
thunder, and lightning.
tornado Violently rotating funnel shaped clouds that grow downward from a cumulonim-
bus cloud.
tropical depression A low pressure cell that rises in the tropics; thunderstorms materi-
alize around the tropical depression