Hurricane Safety Tips

Hurricanes are habitual, unwelcome visitors to certain coastlines generally during late summer and early fall. These powerful winds form over water, then simmer for weeks while they gather energy from warm waters. The winds then turn to land pounding coasts with fierce winds, heavy rains, and swollen seas.

What is a Hurricane?
A Hurricane is a severe weather system that brings high winds, torrential rain, storm surges, and flooding-it can even produce tornadoes.



When Hurricanes Strike
Most hurricanes occur in late summer and early fall, when the ocean water is above 79 degrees.

Where Hurricanes Strike
Hurricanes most often devastate Florida, Texas and North and South Carolina. However, the states that make up the eastern seaboard have also seen their share of hurricanes.

How Hurricanes Strike
Hurricanes begin as tropical storms over the warm moist waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. Meteorologists use the term hurricane when a storm's winds are more than 74 miles per hour.

When a Hurricane Watch is Issued:
Bring objects such as lawn furniture and trash cans inside
Cover all windows of your home with shutters or plywood
Fill your car's gas tank
Recheck tie-downs
Check batteries

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Hurricane

A hurricane is a severe tropical storm that forms in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E. Hurricanes need warm tropical oceans, moisture and light winds above them. If the right conditions last long enough, a hurricane can produce violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains and floods. In other regions of the world, these types of storms have different names.



Typhoon — (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)
Severe Tropical Cyclone — (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)
Severe Cyclonic Storm — (the North Indian Ocean)
Tropical Cyclone — (the Southwest Indian Ocean)

Hurricanes rotate in a counterclockwise direction around an "eye." A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when winds reach 74 mph. There are on average six Atlantic hurricanes each year; over a three-year period, approximately five hurricanes strike the United States coastline from Texas to Maine. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30. The East Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through November 30, with peak activity occurring during July through September. In a normal season, the East Pacific would expect 15 or 16 tropical storms. Nine of these would become hurricanes, of which four or five would be major hurricanes.

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