The New Childrens Encyclopedia

EXTREME WEATHER

55

EARTH

 HAILSTONES

Hail forms inside huge

cumulonimbus clouds and

often falls during a storm.

Most of the time hailstones

are no bigger than

marbles, but in

June 2003 a

hailstone measuring

7 in (17.8 cm) wide fell

in the United States. That’s

the size of a soccer ball!

 SNOW A snowstorm can be lots of fun

but can also be deadly. A blizzard can bury

cars and even houses. In 1999, a heavy

snowfall caused an avalanche and buried the

town of Galtür, Austria, under 33 ft (10 m)

of snow.

 FIRE All it takes is dry, parched earth

and a bolt of lightning for a devastating

forest fire to rage across miles and miles

of land. If a fire hits urban areas it can

destroy homes and claim many lives.

O
 There are about 2,000 thunderstorms

happening in the world right now.

O
 Lightning kills 100 people every year.

O
 Australia suffers from about 15,000

bushfires each year.

O
 Arica, Chile, is one of the driest places

on Earth. From 1903 to 1918 it had no rain.

O
 A tidal wave, or tsunami, hit Indian

Ocean shorelines in 2004. It killed an

estimated 230,000 people ( p. 35).

FAST FACTS

PREDICTING WEATHER

Weather can be very unpredictable,

but most of the time forecasts warn us

of extreme weather and can help save

lives. Weather satellites orbit the Earth

continuously, taking photographs.

There are about 10,000 weather

stations all over the world, on land

and at sea, gathering data on clouds,

temperature, air pressure, wind

direction and speed, and so on. They

pass the information to huge

computers, allowing meteorologists to

predict how the weather will change.

 TORNADO A

tornado is a whirling

funnel of air that moves

across the ground and

destroys everything in its

way. The United States

suffers from more tornadoes

than any other country.

(c) 2012 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.(c) 2012 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.