Q.1
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall and struck the city of New Orleans. What caused the most damage to the city?
  • Flooding
  • High winds
  • Hail
  • Tornados
Q.2
What is a hurricane?
  • A tropical storm with sustained winds of 74mph
  • Any tropical storm that occurs during hurricane season
  • A storm that occurs in the mid-Atlantic region
  • A tropical storm that starts in the Atlantic and makes landfall on the American coast
Q.3
What lead to the worst effects of flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina?
  • The shape of the land encouraged the storm surge. The narrowing of the valley built the wave to greater heights which overtopped the levees, flooding the city
  • Being surrounded by water there was nowhere for the water to drain
  • The ground under the city is a heavy clay which stops water draining away. This lead to a build up of water that couldn't drain away via surface runoff as the water levels rose
  • The storm surge washed away the weaker levees built to the east and west of the city. Some were built on sandy porous soil which was easily washed away from under the constructed levees
Q.4
How can increased and better forecasting mitigate the effects of natural weather hazards?
  • People feel more secure if they know what's happening
  • Prewarning allows people to evacuate areas at risk and prepare for the weather hazards
  • Weather forecasting allows governments to prepare to react in the long term
  • People have little confidence in the weather forecasts at present
Q.5
Why do hurricanes form near the equator?
  • The Coriolis effect is strongest near the equator, meaning that the rotating winds needed to form hurricanes can form here
  • The equator is the longest stretch of uninterrupted ocean allowing for the wind to reach the required speeds
  • Hurricanes are driven by rising warm moist air. The oceans near the equator receive the most heat from the sun and so have the most energy
  • Similar storms form the world over, but they're only known as hurricanes on the equator
Q.6
Why was New Orleans particularly exposed to the effects of Hurricane Katrina?
  • As a coastal city, it was overwhelmed by the storm surge
  • As a city with a high level of poverty, the houses were poorly built
  • The average elevation of the city is 2m below sea level
  • The bay funneled the storm surge up the valley to flood the city
Q.7
Why are people in the UK more likely to die in a blizzard than those in Canada, even if the blizzards are of the same strength and duration?
  • Blizzards affect Canada in different ways to the UK
  • As sustained blizzards are far more infrequent in the UK people are ill prepared
  • As the UK has an older population more deaths will occur
  • People have grown accustomed to milder weather in the UK and their immune systems can't cope when colder weather hits
Q.8
How do tornados form?
  • As the winds swirl around the sides of steep valleys they on occasion loop back on themselves and begin to form a funnel cloud that eventually touches down and creates a tornado
  • As warm air from the ocean rises it moves up and away leaving an area of lower pressure underneath. Air rushes in to replace this air and so leads to strong winds
  • Descending air pulls down warm moist air which, as it comes into contact with the ground, spins around and starts a funnel at ground level. This grows as it rises and forms a tornado
  • Within a supercell thunderstorm, warm damp air and cold dry air move at different speeds leading to wind shear. This starts a pocket of air spinning which eventually forms a funnel
Q.9
Why are once rare events becoming more frequent?
  • As the climate warms up more energy is available for extreme weather events
  • We are able to measure events with more accuracy
  • Better media reporting means that we are seeing more of the events on the news
  • Weather events go in cycles
Q.10
What is measured on the Beaufort scale?
  • Sea state
  • Tsunami wave height
  • Wind intensity
  • Sun strength
0 h : 0 m : 1 s