I know they’re cyclones, like tornadoes. I know they’re bigger than tornadoes. But what precisely can they do? Can you be ‘inside’ a hurricane like you can with a tornado? They don’t have a funnel, right? So surely not? But does the cyclone reach the ground despite not having a funnel? As in, when a hurricane passes by you and you experience the winds from it, are you experiencing spinning cyclonic winds? Or is it just… really windy out, like in a regular storm?
Basically, is the threat of a hurricane the hurricane itself, or is it more like a regular storm where the threat is the ensuing flooding and winds and there’s just a very… special shape of clouds above you? I’ve never experienced a hurricane so I’m really confused on what exactly they are. And how dangerous are they? I only hear people talking about the flooding. Can their winds pick things up? What things? Can it destroy houses? Does being INSIDE/BELOW the hurricane make it more dangerous, or just being near it is the same level of danger? I just have so many questions
In: 0
It’s like an extremely strong wind – then some calm – then extremely strong wind in the opposite direction. The wind howls, making this long low noise.
It does blow things away but doesn’t really pick them up into the sky like a tornado.
It comes with major storm rains as well, so flooding is a risk. The other factor is the extreme change in pressure which you might feel in your ears.
This is a good description:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/experience-category-5-hurricane.htm
A hurricane isn’t really like a tornado so dispense with that idea. Aside from the fact that they both rotate and have strong winds, that’s really where the similarities end. So forget about tornadoes for the time being because trying to compare them is going to confuse you.
A hurricane is a massive (many hundreds of miles/km across) rotating low-pressure storm system that forms over warm ocean waters. The warm water “feeds” the storm. The area of low pressure sucks in air which causes intense wind, and it sucks up warm ocean water, which creates massive clouds that can dump tremendous amounts of rain. As the hurricane moves across warm ocean waters, it can get more powerful, but once it crosses onto land, it weakens and eventually dissipates because it no longer has access to that warm ocean water. Hurricanes can last for days or sometimes weeks.
Obviously you can be inside a hurricane – it happens all the time. That’s why we’re concerned when hurricanes pass over populated areas. How dangerous a hurricane is depends on factors such as its size and wind speed. Some of the biggest dangers of hurricanes are obviously very high wind speeds, massive amounts of rain that can lead to flooding, and storm surge. Storm surge is when the low-pressure of the hurricane actually pulls the ocean up onto coastal areas, creating massive flooding. High winds can absolutely pick things up, destroy buildings, knock over power lines…etc. You can certainly look up images of hurricane damage to get an idea of the kind of devastation they can cause.
Latest Answers