TRACKING A HURRICANE

KEY CONCEPTS

  1. Satellites enable meteorologists to track storm systems and issue early warnings.
  2. Storms are plotted on a grid map using latitude and longitude degrees. Latitude is the distance north or south from the equator measured through 90° degrees. The equator is 0° latitude; the north pole is 90° north latitude; and the south pole is 90° south latitude.
  3. Longitude is the distance east or west from the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich, England. The prime meridian is expressed as 0° longitude. Lines to the right of it are meridian degrees east; lines to the left are in degrees west until either reaches 180° longitude ,which is the international date line, halfway around the planet from Greenwich.
 

MATERIALS
 
 

PROCEDURE

  
 
 

Activity

  1. Discuss latitude and longitude using the globe or world map as a reference point.
  2. Have students identify the latitude and longitude of the region in which they live.
  3. Review images from Hurricane Hugo (provided below).
    • Click here to see an animation of Hugo approaching the U.S. eastern seaboard (774 K)
  4. Distribute the hurricane path data table to students. Practice plotting latitude and longitude; In the Hurricane Hugo Data table.
    • Latitude is given in degrees north
    • Longitude is given in degrees west
    • Time is given in UTC (also known as Greenwich Mean Time).
      • Greenwich, England is globally accepted as a reference standard for both time and longitude (its location marks zero degrees longitude). GMT is based on a 24-hour clock.
        • Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is GMT minus 4 hours
  1. Have the students plot the hurricane's day-to-day path as it moved toward the U.S. eastern seaboard. They should mark each location with the maximum wind speed (given in knots, in the table below) and minimum central pressure (given in millibars, in the table below).
  2. Connect the storm's daily locations with a pencil and analyze its movement. Was the storm a tropical cyclone? Where did it originate? (HINT: Tropical cyclones do not develop at the equator because at 0° latitude the Coriolis Effect does not provide enough spin to initiate hurricane conditions. Hurricanes generally develop at just north or south of the equator within low-pressure troughs in the trade wind belts.)
 
 

Assessment Ideas

  • Have students chart the practice data for hurricane Hugo in their journals. Watch the weather reports and satellite printouts for the formation of a hurricane. Once a hurricane has been named, track the storm for its entire life. See if you can predict how large and where it will go.
  
 
 

CROSS-CURRICULAR IDEAS

  • Physics: Discuss why most storms and fronts travel basically from west to east. Why don't hurricanes generally travel in manner?
  • History/Social Studies (Research Topic): What is the impact of a class 5 hurricane? What are the ten largest hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere and what were their impacts on the United States?
  • Mathematics: Calculate the rate of speed, acceleration and deceleration of the hurricane you are tracking. What factors influence this characteristics of a hurricane?
  
 

VOCABULARY

  • Coriolis Effect: occurs in both hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, motion is deflected to the right from its initial path; in the Southern Hemisphere motion is deflected to the left of its initial path. (Click here to see an animation of the Coriolis Effect.)
  • hurricane: a low-pressure cyclone or tropical storm with winds exceeding 70 miles per hour. The "whirlwind" formation may exceed a diameter of 300 miles and have a capability of releasing more energy per minute than a hydrogen bomb.
  • latitude: the distance north or south from the equator measured through 90° degrees.
  • longitude: the distance east or west from the prime meridian, which is 0° longitude and located at Greenwich, England.
  
 

SOURCE

  • Adapted from "Winds of Change" educational CD-ROM, Copyright Caltech and NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  
Hurricane Hugo: 10 - 22 September, 1989
These maps and the data below are courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Hurricane Center, unless specified otherwise.
  0000 UTC ===> ===> 0600 UTC ===> ===> 1200 UTC ===> ===> 1800 UTC ===> ===>
DATE
LAT LON WIND SPEED PRESS. LAT LON WIND SPEED PRESS. LAT LON WIND SPEED PRESS. LAT LON WIND SPEED PRESS.
9/10
               
13.2
20.0
25
1010
13.3
21.8
25
1010
9/11
13.2
23.7
30
1009
13.0
25.5
30
1007
12.8
27.3
30
1005
12.5
29.2
35
1003
9/12
12.5
31.0
40
1002
12.5
32.9
45
1000
12.5
34.8
45
998
12.6
36.7
50
996
9/13
12.6
38.2
55
994
12.7
40.0
55
992
12.8
41.8
60
990
12.8
43.5
65
987
09/14
12.9
44.9
70
984
13.0
46.3
80
980
13.2
47.8
85
975
13.6
49.1
90
970
9/15
13.8
50.5
100
962
14.0
51.9
110
957
14.2
53.3
125
94.0
14.6
54.6
140
918
9/16
14.8
56.1
135
923
15.1
57.3
130
927
15.4
58.4
120
940
15.8
59.4
120
941
9/17
16.1
60.4
120
941
16.4
61.5
120
943
16.6
62.5
125
949
16.9
63.5
125
945
9/18
17.2
64.1
130
934
17.7
64.8
120
940
18.2
65.5
110
945
19.1
66.4
105
958
9/19
19.7
66.8
100
959
20.7
67.3
90
962
21.6
68.0
90
964
22.6
68.6
90
966
9/20
23.5
69.3
90
957
24.4
70.1
90
957
25.2
71.0
95
958
26.3
72.2
95
953
9/21
27.2
73.4
100
950
28.0
74.9
100
950
29.0
76.1
110
948
30.2
77.5
120
944
9/22
31.7
78.8
120
935
33.5
80.3
85
952
35.9
81.7
55
975
38.5
81.8
40
987
9/23
42.2
80.2
35
988
46.0
74.5
40
990
49.0
69.0
40
992
51.0
65.0
40
993
  • These data from the Atlantic Tracks File, an "on-line" data file containing center locations every 6 hours, latitude (degrees north), longitude (degrees west), and intensities (maximum surface wind speeds in knots and minimum central pressures in millibars) for all Tropical Storms and Hurricanes from 1886 through 1996.
  • [CAUTION: The data in the Atlantic Tracks File are in tabular format and a bit difficult to interpret first glance. You may want to scroll down to the Hurricane Hugo data (beginning with number # 43750 in the leftmost column) and compare with the table given in Activity Step 4.]

Map of Hugo's Path across South Carolina.

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

Infrared image: Hugo near peak intensity, September 15, 1989.

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

NOAA P-3 radar image: Hugo near peak intensity, September 15, 1989.

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

NOAA P-3 radar image: Hugo over the northeast Caribbean, September 17, 1989.

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

Last-light visible image: Hugo approaching South Carolina, September 21, 1989

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

Infrared image: Hugo making landfall, September 22, 1989. Courtesy of NOAA's National Enivironmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service.

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

Charleston, South Carolina image: Hugo making landfall, September 22, 1989.

[Click on image to see a larger version.]

Click here to see Hurricane Hugo's path (highlighted in red) during its entire "lifetime."