Hurricane and Tornadoes Worksheets

Printable Hurricane and Tornadoes Teaching Worksheets

The strongest hurricane ever measured on United States soil was the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. This hurricane had winds of 160 miles per hour. While hurricanes are intense and scarry to say the least, they can not match the 300 miles per hour winds of an F5 tornado. This set of worksheets below will help students understand the nature of these phenomena.

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What Is a Hurricane?

They are super destructive forces and can easily cause a great deal of damage, ruin homes, and cause flooding. Most cities have warnings so that people can escape before a hurricane comes. It is a type of storm that brings a high-speed wind moving at 70 mph! They also bring thunder, rain, and hail with them. They move in a circular path, but you won't see this on the ground. The circular movement can only be seen from above. Like rain, they can be brief or last a long time.

Stages of Formation

Hurricanes form when heat from warm water cools off and condenses. Huge storm clouds come as a result of this cycle. Because the earth rotates on its axis, these clouds move with the earth. This is why these storm systems move in a circular motion. If there is enough hot water, there will be more and more storm clouds. These clouds will get more and more powerful. After some time, they will turn into a hurricane.

Different Parts of a Hurricane

They have many different parts. Some parts are more dangerous than others. There are different events happening in each part or layer of the hurricane.

The Center

Most people think there is nothing happening at the dead center of these cyclones. There are low-pressure winds here. But the wall around the eye is very dangerous.

The Wall Around the Eye

This is the circle of clouds around the eye of the hurricane. There are very strong winds here. They move the fastest out of all the different layers that they are composed of. They can move at 155 mph. That's why this area is the most dangerous

Spiral Rain

Hurricanes bring rain with them too. In the clouds of the hurricane, there is a circular band of clouds that are called rain clouds. These clouds are responsible for the rain that accompanies the system.

Height

Most hurricanes are tall. They can reach incredible heights, almost 40,000 to 50,000 feet up in the air

Diameter

Hurricanes are very big storms. They can extend upto 300 miles. That's why they cause a lot of damage.

Naming Them

These storm systems have names so it's easy to identify them and talk about them on the news. Most of them are named after women, but there are also some that are named after men. Hurricanes first started getting nicknames in the 1980s. This also made it easier to use difficult weather terms in simple words.

What else are they called?

Hurricanes are sometimes also called cyclones or even typhoons. Different parts of the world call them by different names.

The Worst in the World

There are different categories for the severity of each. For example, a Category 5 hurricane is the most dangerous. A Category 1 is relatively milder. Category 5 cause a lot of damage and deaths when they occur. Here are some of them.

Katrina

Everyone knows about this killer storm in the United States. It was one of the worst hurricanes in the world when it happened. It happened in 2005 in Louisiana. It killed 2000 people. It also destroyed most of the city.

The 1991 Bangladesh Cyclone

This storm system destroyed buildings and broke windows. Around 140,000 people lost their lives and around 10 million homes were destroyed.

Michael

This hurricane happened in 2018. It hit 4 states and caused devastation in all of them as it travelled along the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.

Andrew

This hurricane also came from the Atlantic Ocean. It hit Florida pretty badly. It destroyed thousands of homes, roads and cars. Almost 61 people died because of this storm system alone.

Harvey

This was a Category 4 hurricane. It formed and came to the Gulf of Mexico in 2017. The first places to be hit were small coastal areas but the most damage was caused to Houston. There are a lot of people living in Houston. At least 82 people died. Hurricane Harvey also brought flooding. This made it even more dangerous for people. It made the freshwater dirty so people couldn't drink it. There wasn't enough time to evacuate so tens of thousands of people needed help escaping the flooding. People died primarily because of the flooding. This is the system that caused damage to property, buildings, and homes that cost a lot to recover from.

What is a Hurricane Warning?

People who watch the weather are on the lookout for signs of extreme weather conditions. This is called the hurricane watch. If there is a chance of a hurricane coming, a sensor will pick up the change in the atmosphere. A hurricane watch is the first time people are told that there is a chance of receiving a warning of a pending catastrophic storm system. This is the time that they can use to evacuate and go to a nearby city so they are safe. Hurricane watches come at least 36 hours before they actual touch down on land.

This is a more serious measure. It means there is very little time left before the hurricane hits a place. It usually comes 24 hours or less before the storm system arrives. This is when people evacuate in an emergency. Most coastal cities have evacuation plans ready in case this kind of thing happens.

Hurricanes are just one type of extreme weather condition. Now that you know about them, you will be extra careful when there's a hurricane warning. You also know why it's important to help the countries and people that experience this extreme weather condition.