2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season

IN THIS ISSUE Extreme Storms: 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Duration: 16:23

The Atlantic Hurricane season of 2017 will ultimately be one for the record books. Not for having the most hurricanes in a season but it will go one record as possibly being the strongest hurricane month ever recorded. Five major hurricanes formed with three making their way to shore – two as top rated Category five storms. They came in quick succession and brought devastating winds and unprecedented rain. Some Caribbean islands were completely destroyed. While many cities in the U.S. Southeast faced never seen before flooding. Related News in Review Stories CREDITS  Typhoon Haiyan: Destruction in the News in Review is produced by Philippines (Jan 2014) CBC NEWS

 Superstorm Sandy (Jan 2013) Resource Guide Writer/Editor: Sean Dolan  Hurricane Igor hits Newfoundland (Nov 2010) Additional Editing: Michaël Elbaz Host: Michael Serapio  New Orleans: Six Months After Katrina Packaging Producer: Marie-Hélène Savard (Apr 2006) Associate Producer: Francine Laprotte Supervising Manager: Laraine Bone  A Mean Season: Four Hurricanes Hit Hard (Nov 2004) Visit our website at curio.ca/newsinreview, where you will find an archive of all previous Other related Curio.ca content News in Review seasons. As a companion resource, we recommend that students and teachers access cbc.ca/news for additional  Extreme Weather, 2-part series articles.  Into The Tornado (National Geographic) Closed Captioning  Lightning (National Geographic) News in Review programs are closed  Weather Gone Wild captioned for the hearing impaired, for English as a Second Language students, or for situations in which the additional on-screen print component will enhance learning.

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VIDEO REVIEW 4. What role did climate change play in the creation of Hurricane Harvey?

Before Viewing 5. Why did the storm stall for four days off the coast of Texas? The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season got a lot of people talking about climate change. 6. How much of St. Maarten is believed to Environmental scientists were quick to point have been destroyed by Hurricane Irma? out that an increase in the number of hurricanes cannot be directly attributed to 7. How many people died as a result of climate change, but more storms can Hurricane Irma? certainly be seen as a symptom of the repercussions of global warming. Rising 8. Where did Hurricane Maria do the most ocean temperatures have increased the damage? How strong were Maria’s likelihood, frequency and intensity of winds? How much rain did Maria dump hurricanes. Therefore, warm ocean on the island it hurt the most? temperatures and winds are what bring a 9. How bad was the 2017 hurricane season? hurricane into existence — not climate change. However, there is no doubt that the After Viewing storms appear to be becoming more intense. According to the National Hurricane Survival What do you think of this explanation? Is Initiative, there are a number of things that climate change the real culprit in the people need to consider as a hurricane creation of extreme storms like hurricanes? approaches. Besides the obvious factor of – OR – getting yourself to a safe place, there are six categories of essential items that people Is it fair to make the distinction between need to acquire to help ensure their survival. climate change and the origin of They are: hurricanes?  water Viewing  food  first aid supplies 1. How strong was Hurricane Harvey?  sanitation, clothing and bedding 2. What problems emerged in Texas after  tools Harvey was downgraded to a slow-  emergency supplies moving tropical storm? While this list is made for people living in 3. Of the 83 people who died as a result of hurricane affected areas, many experts Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, believe that every family should have an most died as a result of flooding. emergency kit at the ready in case of  True  False something like a fire, flood or other disaster.

Are you ready? Go to the Get Ready America! website — hurricanesafety.org/prepare/hurricanesafety-checklists/ — and download the checklist for each category. Your teacher will assign you and a partner the task of preparing a survival kit for one (1) category. Go home and put together a survival kit for the category assigned to you. Take a picture of all that you have collected and bring the picture to school the following day. Be prepared to share that photo with the entire class.

Questions 1. What items were easy to find?

2. What items were you unable to include in your kit?

3. How prepared are you for a disaster like a hurricane?

THE STORY

Minds On

Conduct some research and answer the following questions:

1. What is a tropical depression?

2. What is a tropical storm?

3. What is a hurricane?

4. Describe the difference between a tropical depression, a tropical storm and a hurricane.

A relentless parade They came one after the other. For two months, ten hurricanes rose from the Atlantic Ocean and pounded the islands of the Caribbean Sea and the nations bordering the Gulf of Mexico. When hurricanes Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Lee, Katia, Maria, Nate and Ophelia were finished their relentless parade, hundreds of lives were lost and billions of dollars in property was destroyed.

After Hurricane Nate, the nine consecutive hurricanes of the 2017 season marks the longest streak of extreme storms since 1893. came one after the other – an unprecedented streak – from early August Unprecedented streak of hurricanes to mid-October. Overall, the season was The Atlantic hurricane season runs from characterized by powerful and long-lasting June 1 to November 30. The year 2017 storms. featured 15 named storms and ten However, 2017 was not the worst hurricane hurricanes – five of which were listed as season on record. That distinction goes to Category 3 or higher. The ten hurricanes 2005 with a staggering 28 named storms

included 15 hurricanes – seven of which Harvey stalled over the city of Houston, were Category 3 or higher. That year’s causing massive flooding. Harvey was hurricanes resulted in nearly 4 000 deaths followed by Irma, a category 5 hurricane and close to $160 billion in property that brought winds approaching 300 km/hr. damage. One of those storms included to the British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Hurricane Katrina that brought devastation and parts of Cuba and Florida. Hurricane and disaster to Louisiana. While the 2005 Irma became one of the most powerful numbers are disturbingly high, experts warn Atlantic storms on record in terms of wind that more storms may emerge in the speed. Next came Jose, Katia and Lee, Atlantic and push 2017 frighteningly close three hurricanes of immense power and to the all-time worst hurricane season ever. intensity – all higher than Category 3. Bob Hension, a meteorologist for the forecasting service Weather Underground, But it was Hurricane Maria that grabbed the put it this way: “This season has been an headlines in mid-September as it overachiever by almost every index. We’ve hammered the Northeast Caribbean. had more than a year’s worth of named Puerto Rico was among the hardest hit as storms when you look at the long-term the hurricane tore parts of the island to average, and that’s being just past the shreds, wiping out power for 95 per cent of midpoint of the season.” In other words, the people living there. The storm killed 34 and season may have much more to offer. caused $50 billion in property damage. A territory of the United States, Puerto Rico Nine hurricanes in a row expected a prompt aid response from the U.S. government. After all, aid seemed to Experts knew that 2017 could turn into a flow to Houston almost immediately after landmark year when they noticed a Harvey. Unfortunately, the people of Puerto number of tropical cyclones developing Rico were forced to wait almost a week simultaneously in the Atlantic Ocean and before any meaningful aid made its way to Caribbean Sea in early August. Hurricanes the island. President Donald Trump made Franklin and Gert got the ball rolling with headlines when he lamented about Puerto strong winds and rain. Fortunately, they Rico’s debt and, when he arrived in San caused very little damage. Things changed Juan, quipped, “You’ve thrown our budget dramatically with Hurricane Harvey – a a little out of whack.” At one point, he massive Category 3 storm that brought criticized the mayor of San Juan, saying, mass flooding to Texas. It was the first “[S]uch poor leadership… they want hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since everything done for them.” This criticism Hurricane Wilma in 2005. News coverage of was levied as parts of the island were laid the progress of the storm brought the to waste, with many aid agencies devastation into the consciousness of just complaining that the devastation was so about everyone with access to a extreme that they were having problems computer, tablet, smartphone or television. getting to the communities that needed Most of the damage was done when

aid the most. A month after the hurricane To Consider hit, many parts of the island were still without power. 1. What was “unprecedented” about the 2017 hurricane season? More to come (?) 2. How does 2017 compare to 2005 in term How many more storms will churn up in 2017 of the destructive nature of hurricanes? is hard to predict. Hurricane Maria was followed closely by the less powerful 3. Why did more people know more about Hurricane Nate in early October. On Nate’s Hurricane Harvey than most of the other heals came Ophelia. Experts wonder if the hurricanes of 2017? relentless parade is moving in the direction of an epic season of storms. With almost 4. What controversies surrounded the U.S. two months left in the traditional hurricane response to Hurricane Maria? season, the island nations of the Caribbean and the nations bordering the Gulf of Mexico hope that the parade will come to a close and that a calm winter awaits them in the not too distant future.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Did you know that the only difference between The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, a hurricane, a cyclone and a typhoon is the location where the storm occurs? All three Florida, has been naming tropical cyclones since words describe the same weather phenomena. 1953. The NHC has drafted six 21-name lists for the Atlantic region. This list of names is rotated every six years and a name is only removed from the list if the storm under that name does so much damage that it has become an historic event. For example, Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was so devastating to the Bahamas and Florida that the name Andrew is no longer in circulation. Similarly, Katrina and Sandy are two names that are no longer used.

All hurricanes start as tropical cyclones. They become hurricanes once their winds exceed 119 kilometres per hour. Then the hurricanes are graded on a scale between one and five, with one being the least severe and five being the most severe. Take a look at the 2017 storm season:

Name Date Storm status Wind Path Damage Deaths at its peak (km/hr) Arlene April 19-21 Tropical storm 85 Drifted out to sea $0 0 Bret June 19-20 Tropical storm 75 Caribbean $3 million 1 Cindy June 20-23 Tropical storm 95 Caribbean and U.S. coast N/A 2 Don July 17-19 Tropical storm 85 Caribbean $0 0 Emily July 31-August 2 Tropical storm 75 Florida $1 million 0 Franklin August 7-10 Category 1 140 Central America N/A 0 Hurricane Gert August 13-17 Category 2 165 Caribbean, coastal U.S., 0 0 Hurricane Canada Harvey August 17- Category 4 215 Caribbean, Central America, $70 billion 75 September 1 Hurricane U.S. (Texas, Louisiana) Irma August 30- Category 5 295 Caribbean, U.S. (Florida, $63 billion 124 September 12 Hurricane Georgia) Jose September 5-22 Category 4 250 Leeward Islands, U.S. east N/A 0 Hurricane coast Katia September 5-9 Category 2 165 Mexico N/A 3 Hurricane Lee September 15-30 Category 3 185 Cape Verde $0 0 Hurricane Maria September 16-30 Category 5 280 Caribbean, U.S., U.K., Ireland $51 billion 62 Hurricane Nate October 4-9 Category 1 150 Caribbean, Central American, N/A 38 Hurricane U.S. Ophelia October 9-16 Category 2 160 Europe N/A N/A Hurricane

Totals TRY THIS!  15 storm systems Create a class padlet (padlet.com) that tells the story of the 2017 hurricane season. Find two (2) articles, three (3)  75 to 295 km/hr winds pictures and two (2) videos that tell the story of what the hurricanes of 2017 did to the nations that stood in its  $184 billion+ in property damage path. Post the information to the class padlet created for you by your teacher.  305 lives lost

With Ophelia losing its hurricane status in mid-October, there was still two months of hurricane season to go when this story was published.

Follow up Did any other hurricanes develop after Ophelia? If so, research the storm and describe in detail its path and the damage it created.