• 10% of deaths associated with hurricanes in the United States are the result of tornadoes.
• Most tornadoes occur within 24 hours after landfall. Except when there is interaction with a cold front after landfall. In that case, tornadoes will take place inland, two or three days after the arrival of the hurricane.
• Most tornadoes take place 150 miles from the coast.
• More tornadoes take place during the morning and afternoon than during twilight or nights, due to their need for a heat source.
• Hurricanes in the Mexican Gulf produce more tornadoes than storms from the Atlantic Ocean.
• Most tornadoes take place 30 miles from the center of the hurricane, but there is a further maximum secondary in the outer rain bands (at 100-150 miles from the center).
• Tornado winds can reach up to 300 mph at an advance speed of 60 mph and are usually 100-300 yards wide.
Learning about Hurricanes
What is a Hurricane?
A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone: the generic term for a low pressure system that is usually formed in the tropics. A typical cyclone brings electrical storms and in the Northern Hemisphere, the flow direction of the winds close to the ground surface.
This term is used for any weather phenomenon with winds in the shape of a spiral and that travels on the terrestrial surface.
It usually corresponds to a center with low atmospheric pressure and with higher temperature than the temperature in the immediate surroundings.
It has a closed circulation around the central point. They rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere.
The same phenomenon is called cyclone at the Indian Ocean and the Southern Pacific, hurricane at the Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific and typhoon at the Western Pacific. Hurricanes and typhoons are the same type of storms than the “tropical cyclones” (the local name of the storms originated at the Caribbean and in the area of the Sea of China, respectively).
Coastal areas in the Atlantic and the Mexican Gulf are subject to hurricanes or tropical storms. Every year, parts of the Southeast in United State and the Pacific Coast experience heavy rainfall and flooding caused by hurricanes generated outside of Mexico. The hurricane season in the Atlantic is from June to November and the high season is from mid August to late October.
Hurricanes may cause catastrophic damage to the coastlines and several hundred miles inland. Winds may exceed 155 miles per hour. Hurricanes and tropical storms are also able to generate tornadoes, create storm surges along the coast and cause great damage by torrential rains.
