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HURRICANES!
Introduction
Suppose you live in a small coastal town in
Texas. On the evening news, you hear about
a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico
that appears to be heading towards Texas. Although
this disturbance is not yet classified as a
tropical storm, your parents wonder if they
should start to board up windows and bring
in outdoor furniture to prepare for high winds
and rain. When does a tropical depression become
a tropical storm? When does a tropical storm
become a hurricane? What is the definition
of a hurricane? How does a hurricane form?
What are the parts of a hurricane? When and
where have the most destructive hurricanes
hit? In this WebQuest you will explore the
weather phenomena called hurricanes and find
the answers to these and other questions.
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Task
Your job in this WebQuest is to discover the
conditions that create tropical depressions,
tropical storms, and hurricanes, and to identify
the differences among these storms. You will
learn about the component parts of hurricanes
and about the source of energy for all tropical
storms. You will find out about the scale used
to classify hurricanes, and about the most
destructive hurricanes ever recorded. You will
also discover the relationships between tropical
cyclones, typhoons, and hurricanes. Finally,
you will answer a set of questions to demonstrate
what you have learned about hurricanes.
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Resources
Look at the web sites given here to find the
information that will enable you to answer
questions about hurricanes.
- How
do hurricanes work?
Visit this site by the Miami Museum of Science
to learn how hurricanes form. You can find
out about hurricanes by scrolling down and
clicking on any of the buttons at the bottom
of the page. For example, if you click on "make
a hurricane spiral", you can go to an activity
in which you will make a hurricane spiral
and use it to create the spiral effect of
a hurricane.
- Hurricanes.
At this site by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) you can learn more about
hurricanes. The index at the left of the
screen lists the topics available at this
site. Click on past major hurricanes to
see a list of major hurricanes that have
hit the U.S. since 1961.
- How
Hurricanes Work.
Visit this site to learn how a hurricane
forms, what its parts are, and how hurricanes
are tracked. Click on parts of a hurricane,
then scroll down and click on hurricane creation
to see interactive graphics that show the
formation of a hurricane.
- Hurricanes:
Online Meteorology Guide.
Visit this University of Illinois site to
learn about hurricanes. You can read a definition
of hurricanes here, and find out what the
stages of development of a hurricane are.
Scroll down and click on explore a 3-D hurricane
to view a 3-dimensional computer model of
a hurricane.
- What
paths do hurricanes take?
Go to this Miami Museum of Science site
to find out more about hurricane tracking.
Click on the radar screen to open an activity
in which you can track a hurricane yourself.
Then scroll down and click on one of the
hurricane buttons to find out where that
hurricane traveled.
- Overview
of Atlantic Hurricanes.
Visit this site to find out more about the
costliest and deadliest hurricanes since
1900. The site includes information on formation
of hurricanes, how they are named, and how
to prepare for hurricanes.
- NOAA – Hurricane Basics
Visit this NOAA site to learn the basics about hurricanes, how they form, and the differences between a tropical depression, tropical storm, and a hurricane.
- Hurricanes
Visit this site to read about hurricanes and how they form. Scroll down for a list of hurricane names through 2009.
- Hurricane – Storm Science
Visit this Miami Museum of Science site to take a trip inside a hurricane. You will learn about hurricane formation and find out how to track a storm.
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Time
1 class period for research and answering
the set of questions
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Process
Read through the following set of questions
before you begin your Internet research. As
you explore each site, look for answers to
the questions.
Questions about Hurricanes!
- What is the relationship among hurricanes,
typhoons, and tropical cyclones?
- What are the three weather conditions under
which a tropical cyclone usually develops?
- What is the source of energy for all tropical
cyclones?
- Describe the three stages of development
of a tropical cyclone. Include the wind speed
in your description.
- What are the three parts of a hurricane?
- A hurricane was described as a 4 on the
Saffir-Simpson scale. What does this mean?
- What is the diameter of a typical hurricane?
What is the diameter of the eye of a typical
hurricane?
- When and where was the worst hurricane
in the United States? How many people died
in that hurricane?
- When and where was the worst hurricane
in the world? How many people died in that
hurricane?
- What will be the name of the first tropical
storm in the Atlantic and Caribbean in the
year 2003?
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Conclusion
In the process of completing this WebQuest,
you've become informed about the phenomena
called hurricanes, the conditions required
to generate hurricanes, and the scale used
to classify hurricanes. You have identified
the component parts of hurricanes, and discovered
the relationships among tropical cyclones,
typhoons, and hurricanes. Your have developed
research skills as you explored the web sites
given and identified the relevant information
to answer the set of questions above. Did you
know how hurricanes were related to typhoons
and tropical cyclones? Were you surprised to
learn how many people have died as a result
of hurricanes over the last 100 years?
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