6.3 L13: Hurricane Assessment Task

You will complete these annotations on the physical copy provided by your teacher!

Background Information:

Hurricane Irma in 2017 caused widespread destruction on some islands. Hurricane Irma formed over the Atlantic Ocean on August 30, 2017, moved toward and eventually over the United States over the next 2 weeks, and lasted until September 14, 2017.

All hurricanes form over water and usually occur between June 1 and November 30 each year. Hurricanes are powerful storms that bring heavy rain and winds.

Below is a model that shows initial hurricane formation. A hurricane forms around a series of cumulonimbus clouds that can grow up to 30,000 feet tall and hundreds of miles wide. The red arrows show general patterns in the movement of air in and around these clouds as the hurricane forms.

Hurricanes produce mass amounts of rain. Use your model and the data table above to explain how hurricanes can collect and hold so much water

CCN are missing from the model above. In oceans, there is a unique source of CCN: sea salt. Sea salt can get kicked up into the air from ocean spray produced by surface winds and waves. Using this idea, explain how ocean spray could contribute to a hurricane’s ability to hold water.

This model shows a hurricane that has been growing over the ocean for several days. The news typically reports on “hurricane-force winds.” Hurricane-force winds are any winds that exceed 74 miles per hour. Use the model to explain why hurricanes produce such powerful surface winds.