How do cyclones form?
Cyclones look like huge disks of clouds.
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: Cyclones are gigantic, destructive, deadly storms. Because of information gathered by satellites observing Earth, we know that cyclones form in low pressure zones over warm intertropical seas. A tropical depression may intensify and evolve into a tropical storm, with even lower pressures and stronger winds. When the winds rise above 118 kilometers per hour, it is called a cyclone.
Cyclones look like huge disks of clouds. They are between 10 and 15 kilometers thick. And they may be up to 1,000 kilometers in diameter. They are made of bands of storm clouds rolled into a spiral around a zone of very low pressure called the eye of the cyclone. Winds are drawn in toward the eye of the cyclone, but they cannot penetrate it. When winds reach the periphery of the eye they become very strong. They begin to whirl around the eye, rising toward the top of the cloud, then dispersing.
The westward trade winds sometimes push cyclones over the mainland, where they cause great damage. Winds of more than 250 kilometers per hour flatten structures, while torrential rains and the seawater sucked up by the cyclone flood entire regions. Every year cyclones cause an average of 20,000 deaths around the world.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: Cyclones are gigantic, destructive, deadly storms. Because of information gathered by satellites observing Earth, we know that cyclones form in low pressure zones over warm intertropical seas. A tropical depression may intensify and evolve into a tropical storm, with even lower pressures and stronger winds. When the winds rise above 118 kilometers per hour, it is called a cyclone.
Cyclones look like huge disks of clouds. They are between 10 and 15 kilometers thick. And they may be up to 1,000 kilometers in diameter. They are made of bands of storm clouds rolled into a spiral around a zone of very low pressure called the eye of the cyclone. Winds are drawn in toward the eye of the cyclone, but they cannot penetrate it. When winds reach the periphery of the eye they become very strong. They begin to whirl around the eye, rising toward the top of the cloud, then dispersing.
The westward trade winds sometimes push cyclones over the mainland, where they cause great damage. Winds of more than 250 kilometers per hour flatten structures, while torrential rains and the seawater sucked up by the cyclone flood entire regions. Every year cyclones cause an average of 20,000 deaths around the world.
[Music out]
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