Rotary Happenings: Meteorologist covers hurricanes, storm season for Rotarians
Weather, clean water, and politics have been front and center discussion topics throughout the summer in Southwest Florida. The Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club tries to bring in speakers from the community on trending topics with long-range significance for our local communities. The exception has somewhat been regarding politics – we pretty much try and stay away from that. But on Sept. 28, the club will have as our guest speaker Assistant State Attorney Amira Fox. Her topic has yet been announced, so I can’t say what she will be speaking about. It should be interesting and hopefully not to controversial for our club Rotarians.
But what I can say is our speaker on Sept. 21, ABC7 meteorologist Jordan Patrick, was a darn good speaker. From the get go, he brought out some significant facts. So far during the 2018 hurricane season, the U.S. has had 10 named Atlantic Ocean tropical storms with potential to develop into hurricanes. The west coast of Florida was threatened by Subtropical Storm Alberto on Memorial Day and Subtropical Storm Gordon on Labor Day. We have just passed the peak season for hurricane season, but it’s not over till it’s over in November. Luckily, Florence didn’t affect the west coast of Florida but brought about a variety of intense weather with hurricane rains and winds to the Carolinas and states beyond. Flooding was and continues to be the major concern for these areas with death tolls rising, along with substantial property damage.
Atlantic hurricanes typically develop off the coast of West Africa from prevailing winds across the Sahara Dessert over warm ocean waters where they gather strength as tropical waves. High pressure areas over the western Atlantic Ocean or over the U.S. East Coast will keep these storms moving west. There are then two areas of development beyond – one over the Caribbean Sea and another off the East Coast of the U.S. Air flow around high pressure systems and toward low pressure areas influence hurricane tracks.
According to the website sciencing.com:
“A hurricane is a combination of warm, humid wind over tropical waters. As this warm water meets the wind that blows west from Africa, it causes the water to vaporize. The water vapor then rises into the atmosphere, where it cools and liquefies. As it liquefies, it creates clouds called cumulonimbus clouds. As these clouds form, they produce a spiral wind pattern over the ocean’s surface. A cycle begins when rain from the thunderstorm falls to the ocean, where it is reheated and sent back into the atmosphere, giving increased energy to the growing hurricane. Hurricanes are generically called tropical cyclones, which have four stages: a tropical disturbance, a tropical depression, a tropical storm and, finally, a tropical cyclone.
“The next stage of a hurricane – as the cumulonimbus clouds force thunderstorms to higher elevations, the air at the top of the columns begins to cool, releasing energy in the form of heat. This warms the clouds beneath it and causes wind to move away from the center of the storm in a spinning fashion. As this is repeated, the winds pick up speed, ranging anywhere from 25 to 38 mph. A tropical storm follows a tropical depression when winds measure more than 39 mph. The process for tropical storm formation is the same as the process for a tropical depression, with winds continuing to blow at faster speeds and circulating around the eye of the storm.
“Finally, a tropical cyclone, takes place when the speed of the wind reaches 74 mph or more. At this point, the hurricane reaches 50,000 feet or more into the atmosphere and is at least 125 miles across. Winds that move from east to west, known as trade winds, push the hurricane westward. Therefore, so many hurricanes hit the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the coastal regions in the southeastern United States. As they hit land, hurricanes typically lose strength, because they are no longer over the warm waters required to fuel them. However, they still pose a significant threat to the areas over which they make landfall, in the form of wind and water damage.”
Hurricanes are unpredictable, and Patrick emphasized the need to prepare for these storms. Get your hurricane supplies ready: food, water, batteries, lights, radio, medicines, money, gas for your car and pet supplies. Take pictures of your property, both inside and out. Know what hurricane zone you’re in, know where hurricane shelters are located, get out early – don’t wait. Carry with you all forms of ID, including your passport and insurance papers.
There was a question from one of our Rotarians regarding the effect of weather has on red tide. Patrick’s answer was that the rains from large storms flush fertilized water from inland farms and residential areas into the Okeechobee and Caloosahatchee River. Fertilizer runoff fuels many harmful algal blooms. Though Florida red tides start offshore, away from coastal nutrient sources, blooms can drift toward shore and use both natural nutrients and man-made runoff. Fertilizer runoff fuels harmful algal blooms.
For information about the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club, visit sanibelrotary.org or www.facebook.com/sancaprotary. The club meets every Friday at 7 a.m. at the Dunes Golf and Tennis Club, at 949 Sand Castle Road, Sanibel; visitors are welcome to attend.