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Hurricane Francelia
Hurricane Francelia was the deadliest hurricane of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season after causing significant flooding to Central America, especially Belize and Guatemala. The sixth named storm and fourth hurricane of the season, Francelia developed from a tropical wave in the southeastern Caribbean Sea on August 29. It moved west-northwestward and strengthened into a tropical storm on the following day. On September 1, Francelia reached hurricane status, shortly before re-curving west-southwest. While approaching Central America, the storm intensified and peaked as a Category 2 hurricane on September 2. Francelia weakened slightly before making landfall near Punta Gorda, Belize (then British Honduras) late on September 3. The storm quickly weakened inland and dissipated by the following day. During its early stages, Francelia brought gusty winds and light rainfall to several islands in the Caribbean Sea. While remaining nearly stationary offshore Cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In English, the term ''Leeward Islands'' refers to the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. The more southerly part of this chain, starting with Dominica, is called the Windward Islands. Dominica was initially considered a part of the Leeward Islands but was transferred from the British Leeward Islands to the British Windward Islands in 1940. Origin of the name The name of this island group, ''Leeward Islands'', dates from previous centuries, when sailing ships were the sole form of transportation across the Atlantic Ocean. In sailing terminology, "windward and leeward, windward" means towards the source of the wind (upwind), while "windward and leeward, leeward" is the opposite direction (downwind). In the West Indies, the prevailin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is called a hurricane (), typhoon (), tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone. A hurricane is a strong tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean or northeastern Pacific Ocean. A typhoon is the same thing which occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. In the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, comparable storms are referred to as "tropical cyclones". In modern times, on average around 80 to 90 named tropical cyclones form each year around the world, over half of which develop hurricane-force winds of or more. Tropical cyclones tropical cyclogenesis, typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Hurricane Center
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the IERS Reference Meridian, Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 30th parallel north in the northeast Pacific Ocean and the 31st parallel north in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The agency, which is co-located with the National Weather Service Miami, Florida, Miami branch of the National Weather Service, is situated on the campus of Florida International University in University Park, Florida, University Park, Miami, Miami, Florida. The NHC's Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) routinely issues marine forecasts, in the form of graphics and high seas forecasts year round, with the Ocean Prediction Center having backup responsibility for this unit. The Technology and Science Branch (TSB) provides technical support for the center, which includes new infusions of technology from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town, Cayman Islands, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Cayman Brac. Geography Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of the territory's entire land mass. The island is approximately long with its widest point being wide. The elevation ranges from sea level at the beaches to above sea level on the North Side's Mastic Reserve, Mastic Trail. Unlike many other Caribbean islands, Grand Cayman is for the most part, flat. This allows for more space to build as the island's population grows. Island districts Grand Cayman Island includes five of the six districts of the Cayman Islands: Bodden Town (district), Bodden Town, East End, Cayman Islands, East End, George Town, Cayman Islands, George Town, North Side, Cayman Islands, North Side and West Bay, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1969 Pacific Hurricane Season
The 1969 Pacific hurricane season had below average tropical cyclone activity, with only ten named storms forming; most of these storms never approached land. Only four named storms reached hurricane strength, of which none became a major hurricane. It officially started on May 15, 1969, in the eastern Pacific Ocean (east of 140°W in the Northern Hemisphere), and ended on November 30, 1969. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form east of this region of the Pacific. The first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Ava, developed on July 1, and the last, Hurricane Jennifer, dissipated on October 23. At the time, Ava was the latest forming first named storm in any Eastern Pacific season on record. Notable storms of the 1969 Pacific hurricane season included Tropical Storm Emily and Hurricane Jennifer. The precursor disturbance of Emily killed nine people in Mexico and left 100,000 homeless. Hurricane Jenn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eye (cyclone)
The eye is a region of mostly calm weather at the center of a tropical cyclone. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area, typically in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather and highest winds of the cyclone occur. The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the eye and can be as much as 15 percent lower than the pressure outside the storm. In strong tropical cyclones, the eye is characterized by light winds and clear skies, surrounded on all sides by a towering, symmetric eyewall. In weaker tropical cyclones, the eye is less well defined and can be covered by the central dense overcast, an area of high, thick clouds that show up brightly on satellite imagery. Weaker or disorganized storms may also feature an eyewall that does not completely encircle the eye or have an eye that features heavy rain. In all storms, however, the eye is where the barometer reading is lowest. Structure A typical tropi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmospheric Sounding
Atmospheric sounding or atmospheric profiling is a measurement of vertical distribution of physical properties of the atmospheric column such as pressure, temperature, wind speed and wind direction (thus deriving wind shear), liquid water content, ozone concentration, pollution, and other properties. Such measurements are performed in a variety of ways including remote sensing and in situ observations. The most common in situ sounding is a radiosonde, which usually is a weather balloon, but can also be a rocketsonde. Remote sensing soundings generally use passive infrared and microwave radiometers: * airborne instruments * surface stations * Earth-observing satellite instruments such as AIRS and AMSU * observation of atmospheres on different planets, such as the Mars climate sounder on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Direct methods Sensors that measure atmospheric constituents directly, such as thermometers, barometers, and humidity sensors, can be sent aloft on balloons, rocke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Islands, Honduras
The Swan Islands ( or ''Islas del Cisne'', named ''Islas de las Pozas'' by Christopher Columbus in 1502) is a chain of three islands located in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, approximately northeast of the eastern coast of Honduras, with a combined land area of . The islands are uninhabited except for a small permanent Honduran naval garrison stationed on Great Swan Island that maintains the Islas del Cisne Airport. Geography The Swan Islands lie within the exclusive economic zone of Honduras and belong to the Islas de la Bahía department of Honduras. They consist of three islands: * Great Swan Island (3 km long, 2 km2) * Little Swan Island (2.4 km long, 0.5 km wide, 1.2 km2) * Booby Cay (90 metres long, 70 m off the southwestern corner of Great Swan Island, deep Cayman Trench. Important Bird Area The islands are part of the Islas de la Bahía y Cayos Cochinos Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International because they s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ridge (meteorology)
In meteorology a ridge or barometric ridge is an elongated area of relatively high atmospheric pressure compared to the surrounding environment, without being a closed circulation. It is associated with an area of maximum anticyclonic curvature of wind flow. The ridge originates in the center of an anticyclone and sandwiched between two low-pressure areas, and the locus of the maximum curvature is called the ''ridge line''. This phenomenon is the opposite of a trough. Description Ridges can be represented in two ways: * On surface weather maps, the pressure isobars form contours where the maximum pressure is found along the axis of the ridge. * In upper-air maps, geopotential height isohypses form similar contours where the maximum defines the ridge. Related weather Given the direction of the winds around an anticyclonic circulation and the fact that weather systems move from west to east: *ahead of an upper-ridge, the airflow that comes from the polar regions and bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc which begins east of Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico at the Virgin Islands, archipelago of the Virgin Islands, swings southeast through the Leeward Islands, Leeward and Windward Islands towards South America, and turns westward through the Leeward Antilles along the Geography of Venezuela, Venezuelan coast. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic arc, volcanic island arc between the Greater Antilles to the north-west and the continent of South America."West Indies." ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. 2001. () Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., p. 1298. The islands of the Lesser Antilles form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. Together, the Lesser Antilles a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmospheric Circulation
Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of Atmosphere of Earth, air and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth. The Earth's atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the large-scale structure of its circulation remains fairly constant. The smaller-scale weather systems – middle latitudes, mid-latitude low-pressure area, depressions, or tropical convective cells – occur chaotically, and long-range weather predictions of those cannot be made beyond ten days in practice, or a month in theory (see chaos theory and the butterfly effect). The Earth's weather is a consequence of its illumination by the Sun and the laws of thermodynamics. The atmospheric circulation can be viewed as a heat engine driven by the Sun's energy and whose heat sink, energy sink, ultimately, is the blackness of space. The work produced by that engine causes the motion of the masses of air, and in that process ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
