It is said that the hurricane season is becoming lengthier and the storms much more intense and destructive due to global warming and other influences.

Some hurricanes can change the landscape so much that the area has to be remapped and it can take a long time before life returns to normal. Many lives can be lost as hurricane force winds, heavy rains and storm surges blast through with remarkable force. Buildings are widely damaged, the force of water washes away anything in its path, electricity shuts down as power and communication lines are smashed to the ground. Landslides are common place and many roads are washed away, making it difficult once the hurricane has passed for the emergency service to move from place to place. Hurricanes are the most powerful and destructive meteorological events on this planet, each year during the hurricane season many lives are lost to these huge storm systems.

Hurricanes feed off the warmer waters, once the storm hits landfall it degenerates and looses power and is quickly down graded to Tropical Storm. They are very unpredictable, the storm can gain strength, lose power or change its direction suddenly making the tracking of the storm very difficult.

Next Week: Hurricanes Part 2.

The answer to last weeks question: Dry Air.

This weeks question: Hurricanes develop over:

A/ Cold Waters.

B/ Warm Waters.

Good Luck.

Glossary:

Fohn Wind: A warm, dry wind that occurs when air sinks down a mountainside and is warmed by compression as it does so. The name was first used for winds in the Swiss Alps.

Weather for coming week (Monday-Friday).

Low pressure will prevail for much of this coming week with short lived ridges of high pressure between.

Monday drier with a little sunshine and light south-west breeze.

Tuesday heavy rain giving between 20-30 mm in parts adding to the already flood situation.

Wednesday sunshine and a few showers.

Thursday more rain, heavy at times.

Friday sunshine and showers.

Maximum day temperature 16-18c 61-64f.

Minimum night temperature 11-14c 52-57f.

Last Week's Observations (Monday-Sunday) Highest day temperature.............18.7c on Monday 1st September Lowest night temperature.............9.8c on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd September.

Wettest day................................30.0 mm on Saturday 6th September.

Footnote: In the first 6 days of September I have logged 91.1 mm (3.58 inches) of rainfall, the average for the whole month is 72.1 mm (2.83 inches). So in the first 6 days we have experienced 126.3% of the whole months average.