This summary will deal with tropical cyclones and their characteristics.
To begin with, tropical cyclones are a climatic hazard. They are tropical storms which last between 24 and 48 hours. Depending on the zone they occur, they receive different names: if they occur in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the Caribbean Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico or in the central or eastern part of the North Pacific Ocean; they are called Hurricanes. They are called Typhoons if they occur in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean, specifically between 180° and 100° East longitude. If they occur in the North Indian Ocean or in the South Pacific, they are called Cyclones. In this summary, we will focus on hurricanes.
The word hurricane comes from the word “huricán”, who was the Carib Indian god of evil; and for the mayan people, it was creation.
To distinguish hurricanes, there is a list of names, created by the World Meteorological Organization, that gives tropical storms an alphabetical name once they are discovered. After 6 years, names can be repeated, except for the ones which were given to drastic storms, which are removed permanently from the list.
There are several conditions that need to be present so that a hurricane can happen. For example, they are common within the tropics in the end of summer and beginning of autumn. Also, there has to be low pressure, winds of 150 km/h and the temperature of the water should be at least of 27°C. The speed of the wind, determines the level of the hurricane. This can be measured in the Saffir-Simpson scale, which goes from 1 to 5. When hurricanes reach land, they lose energy.
Concerning the effects, there could be immediate effects, short term effects and long term effects. The immediate effects are the destruction of buildings, which can cause deaths; and the disruption of services. The short term effects could be floods because of the rising of sea levels or the breaking of pipes. The long term effects could be the destruction of crops, the death of animals, water related diseases, the rebuilding of the city, and the need of money for rebuilding, medicines. Also, there could be positive effects, like heat relief, drought relief and archeological benefits, as archeological objects could be found.
Hurricanes can be predicted by satellite images and by measuring the speed of the winds.
An example of an important hurricane is hurricane Maria, which happened from september, 16, 2017 to october 2, 2017 in Puerto Rico Dominica and the U.S Virgin Islands. It was a deadly hurricane category 5 which caused 3057 deaths
