Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Tornadoes
Tornadoes are a natural disaster related to the increase in severe hur-
ricanes.
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Meteorologists know that hurricanes tend to generate torna-
does when they make landfall. Not surprisingly, the Gulf Coast is
particularly susceptible to these tornadoes, and their occurrence has
increased in frequency over the past four decades. Compared to the
previous peak tornado period from 1948 to 1964 when there was an
average of six tornadoes per year, the current Gulf Coast hurricane
pattern is generating an average of fi fteen tornadoes per year. Research-
ers have devised a statistical model that predicted almost perfectly the
number of tornadoes that would be spawned by Hurricanes Katrina in
2005 and Ike in 2008. The connection between different disastrous
meteorological events is reminiscent of the often repeated maxim of
ecologists: Everything is connected to everything else.
