ATOC 185 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Hurricane Mitch, Hurricane Andrew, Coastal Erosion
1 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Florida: category 5, the eye directly hit the south of florida, one of strongest hurricanes to hit land in recorded history, primary danger was wind. A shallow slope off the coast (right, top picture) will allow a greater surge to inundate coastal communities. Changes in the structure of the eye and eyewall can cause changes in the wind speed, which is an indicator of the storm"s intensity. The eye can grow or shrink in size, and double (concentric) eyewalls can form: rainbands: curved bands of clouds and thunderstorms that trail away from the eye wall in a spiral fashion. These bands are capable of producing heavy bursts of rain and wind, as well as tornadoes. There are sometimes gaps in between spiral rain bands where no rain or wind is found: tropical cyclone size: typical hurricane strength tropical cyclones are about 300 miles (483 km) wide although they can vary considerably.
