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Name _______________________Period _______Date _____________Ms. De PintoLab: Track that Hurricane!Tracking Hurricane Sandy using latitude & longitude coordinatesIntroduction: “Devastating damage expected… A most powerful hurricane with unprecedentedstrength… Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer… At least one half of well constructed homes will have roof and wall failure… all wood framed low rising apartment buildingswill be destroyed… High rise office and apartment buildings will sway dangerously, a few to the point of total collapse… airborne debris will be widespread… persons, pets, and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck…” ~ From Urgent Weather Statement issued by Robert Ricks, Meteorologist, National Weather ServiceHurricanes are a type of cyclonic storm that start in the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics (the same type of storm is called a typhoon in the Pacific). They are pushed toward the west by the trade winds near the equator. Due the counterclockwise spinning motion, hurricanes follow a curving path northward. When they move across 30°N latitude, they enter the prevailing westerly wind belt, which pushes them toward the east. The weather service tracks hurricanes and uses models to predict the path in order to issue warnings which may be used to issue evacuation orders. Classification of a storm as a hurricane depends on the speed of the winds within the hurricane: Wind speeds have to be greater than 74 mph (64 knots/119 km/h) for a Category 1 Hurricane.Purpose: Providing weather forecasts and warnings is one of the ways the National Weather Service carries out its mission to protect life and property and enhance the national economy. The National Hurricane Center (part of the National Weather Service) tracks tropical storms and hurricanes, and issues hurricane watches and warnings when the storms get close to the U.S. Today you can track the approach of tropical storms and Hurricane Sandy.Objective: Track a hurricane on the same type of chart used at the National Hurricane Center.Materials: Copy of the “Western Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart.” Pencil and eraserA record of hurricane locations from the National Hurricane Center, or from historical hurricane records; records from four famous hurricanes are found on the following pages.Procedure: Using the data from the table on the following page, plot the location of the low-pressure center that formed Hurricane Sandy on the hurricane tracking map on the next page by using the available latitude and longitude coordinates.Next to each point, record the date and time for that position.Once all of the positions have been plotted, connect each data point with a line using a colored pencil.On the hurricane tracking map, use a second color to circle the point where the storm became a hurricane.Using the same color as you did in Step 3, draw another circle around the point where it changed back to a tropical storm.Hurricane Sandy Tracking Data ChartPost-Lab Questions:What is a hurricane? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Using the Hurricane Sandy Tracking Data Chart, fill in the chart below.Wind Speed (mph)Air Pressure (range)Circulation PatternConclusion: You are going to write a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) paragraph to summarize your knowledge of latitude and longitude. Answer all questions in complete sentences.Claim: Why is knowledge of latitude and longitude necessary if you worked at the National Weather Service?Ex: Your statement may begin with “Knowledge of latitude and longitude is important because….”________________________________________________________________________________________________________Evidence: Provide 2 pieces of evidence (from the lab) that support your claim. Ex:Is it complicated to track hurricanes? What evidence from the lab do you have that supports your answer to this question?How could having an understanding of latitude and longitude coordinates be helpful to someone working in the National Weather Service? Use details from the Data Chart or Plots on the Atlantic Basin Hurricane Tracking Chart to support this.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Reasoning: Using your outside knowledge of hurricanes and storms, provide 2 examples that could demonstrate the disastrous effects of hurricanes on a city if the National Weather Service was unable to track hurricane paths using latitude and longitude.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ................
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