Storms and more!!!

Scientists think the two main causes of Global Warming are burning Fossil Fuels (oil and coal) and chopping down trees. Burning Fossil Fuels makes a lot of smog and cutting down trees stops them from taking in the harmful Carbon Dioxide.

        Global Warming is raising sea level, so animals have to find new homes. It is too late stop Global Warming, completely. 

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes come in many sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris. if the sky is purple that means there is a tornado.

Although tornadoes have been observed on every  continent except Antarctica, most occur in the United States. They also commonly occur in southern Canada, south-central and eastern Asia, east-central South America, Southern Africa, northwestern and southeast Europe, Italy, western and southeastern Australia, and new zealand. we have had some tornados in Georgai lately. zealand. we have had some tornados in Georgai lately.

Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. Some attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than a mile (1.6 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).wow the farthest tornado is 177 km I found that that was the highest.

With extreme drought conditions stretching across the northern third of Georgia and a forecast for a dry summer, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has announced that level four outdoor watering restrictions will remainin place for EPD permitted utilities and local governments in 55 counties. However, the level four restrictions will be lifted in six counties where drought conditions have improved and replaced with level two watering restrictions.

"Winter rain and rising lake levels bring us hope, but citizens should not be fooled into thinking the drought is over," said EPD DirectorCarolA. Couch. "We are inbetter shape than last fall, but we need to continue to manage our water supply to get us through the long hot summer."

The announcement was made today following a meeting of the State Drought Response Committee. A Level Four Drought Response prohibits most types of outdoor water use. However Director Couch said that utilities and local governments in the level four counties that do not rely on Lake Lanier and water releases directly from Buford Dam will be allowed to petitionfor a modified drought response.

"Many local governments have been proactive in making improvements in their water systems," said Director Couch. "As a result,theyare better prepared for drough tand the petition process offers some flexibility in how water is managed at the local level."

Director Couch said a reduction in water releases from lakes Allatoona and Lanier helped raise water levels and she also credited effective water conservation. Under Governor Perdue's directive, most north Georgians reduced their water use byat least 10 percent from November 2007 through March2008. The directive expired on March 30.

An EPD analysis ofsummer water use shows that enforcement of the level four water restrictions combined with voluntary water conservation should achieve a water savings ofat least ten percent, so the state directive is no longer ineffect, said Director Couch.

     The drought is not as bad now.I am hoping the drought will stop soon. I think it has been going on for one or two years maby even three I don't know? Do you?

A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapour contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters, European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems.

The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, and their formation in Maritime Tropical air masses. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic nature, with counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on their location and strength, tropical cyclones are referred to by other names, such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression and simply cyclone.

While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they move over land. This is the reason coastal regions can receive significant damage from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are relatively safe from receiving strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the coastline. Although their effects on human populations can be devastating, tropical cyclones can also relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes, which makes them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation mechanism. As a result, tropical cyclones help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth's troposphere, and to maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worldwide.

Many tropical cyclones develop when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. Others form when other types of cyclones acquire tropical characteristics. Tropical systems are then moved by steering winds in the troposphere; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies, and can even develop an eye. On the other end of the spectrum, if the conditions around the system deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall, the system weakens and eventually dissipates. that is tropical cyclone. that is confuseing.

The Greek historian Thucydides was the first to relate tsunamis to submarine quakes,^{[1] [2]} but understanding of the nature of tsunamis remained slim until the 20th century and is the subject of ongoing research.

Many early geological, geographic, oceanographic etc; texts refer to "Seismic sea waves" - these are now referred to as "tsunami."

Some meteorological storm conditions - deep depressions causing cyclones, hurricanes; can generate a storm surge which can be several metres above normal tide levels. This is due to the low atmospheric pressure within the centre of the depression. As these storm surges come ashore the surge can resemble a tsunami, inundating vast areas of land. These are not tsunami. Such a storm surge inundated Burma or, Myanmar in May 2008. these

the tsunami of 2004 was the second worse tsunami in 100 years  click the link to see what it did

It is like frozen rain. It can be the size of a baseball. IT may come before a tornado. If there is alot of hail it can break a house. It is not nessacarly always bad.

Ice storms happen when a warm cloud rains above a layer of colder air. This lowers the temperature of the droplets to below zero, however it remains in liquid form. The supercooled droplets freeze into ice on impact when they fall onto a surface the temperature of which is close to, or below, freezing.

This freezing rain covers everything with heavy, smooth glaze ice. Ice-covered roads become slippery and dangerous. Driving becomes extremely hazardous as the ice causes all types of vehicles to skid out of control, which can cause devastating car crashes as well as pile ups. Even pedestrians are severely affected as sidewalks become slippery, which can cause people to slip and fall and outside stairs can become an extreme injury hazard.

In addition to hazardous driving or walking conditions, branches or even whole trees may break from the weight of ice. Falling branches can block roads, tear down power and telephone lines and cause other damage. Even without overhead tree branches, the weight of the ice itself can snap power lines, and power poles as well (even the big steel frame electrical pylons have crumbled under the weight of ice before). This can leave people without power for as long as several days to even weeks. According to most meteorologists, just one quarter of an inch of ice accumulation can add about 500 pounds of weight per line span. Damage from ice storms is highly capable shutting down entire metropolitan areas.

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude of an earthquake is conventionally reported, or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by a shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. When a large earthquake epicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, huge amounts of gas migration, mainly methane deep within the earth, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments.

An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term epicenter means the point at ground level directly above this. 

 People can fall in the crack it can not close. But the only way to fix it is to put cement in it.

A dust devil is a rotating updraft, ranging from small (half a meter wide and a few meters tall) to large (over 10 meters wide and over 1000 meters tall). Dust devils are usually harmless, but rare ones can grow large enough to threaten both people and property. They are comparable to tornado in that both are an unusual weather phenomenon of swirling air vortices. Tornadoes form as an updraft attached to a wall cloud at the back of a thunderstorm. Dust devils form as an updraft under sunny conditions during fair weather, rarely coming close to the intensity of a tornado. it is good it's not a she devil.

A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires. The Great Peshtigo Fire and the Ash Wednesday fires are two examples of a firestorm. Firestorms can also be deliberate effects of targeted explosives such as occurred as a result of the aerial bombings of Dresden, Tokyo and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II.

 I have not herd of this storm.