Expository essay by Svend-Luka
If you’ve seen a hurricane you know its destructive power. Imagine your front yard a pool. You find your car on top of someone’s half destroyed roof. The streets you know turn into giant canals. You have to sail into a flooded grocery shop. The McDonalds drive through becomes a McDonald's paddle through. You can waterboard in front of your house. The steps a cloud goes through to become a super storm are the steps of a hurricane. | |
During the next stage, a tropical disturbance turns into a tropical depression. A tropical depression is an organized zone of weak thunderstorms. The max amount of wind in a tropical depression is 62 kph (kilometers per hour). Usually there will be more clouds accompanying the thunderstorm clouds. This is the second step to a full blown hurricane. When wind speeds exceed 62 kph or 39 mph (miles per hour), a tropical depression gets upgraded to a tropical storm.
Next, the tropical depression grows into a tropical storm. The max wind speed is 39-73 mph (62-117 kph). It’s the third stage of a hurricane. When the wind speed exceeds 73 mph or 117 kph it then becomes a hurricane! The tropical storm is usually a organization of harsh thunderstorms and organizations of clouds. Tropical storms usually trigger hurricanes.
In the last stage a tropical storm becomes a hurricane or a super storm. A hurricane is a giant spiraling vortex. Its max wind speed is 74 mph + (119.09 kph +). A hurricane has these requirements: warm water, water evaporation, heat, energy, and the wind pattern needs to spiral inwards. A hurricane only happens in the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. But cyclones and typhoons happen somewhere else.
Hurricanes are important to know about. What if suddenly a giant spinning vortex comes and causes 80 billion dollars worth of damage and takes 1,800 lives? Hurricanes can do that. What if it’s your house that a hurricane obliterates? Hurricanes can kill.